The e-scooter company Lime is backing out of plans to put e-scooters on the streets of Richmond in the immediate future, but they’ll still maintain a long-term presence in the city.
In April, the company signed a three-year lease on a warehouse in the city. They were expected to roll out 500 scooters in the spring, but have since scrapped those plans for now. Instead, they’ve turned the warehouse into a regional repair center for Lime scooters in several other Virginia cities as well as DC and Baltimore.
“It is the place where we can do anything from new shipments to repairs needed from surrounding markets,” said Lime spokesperson Laura Miller Brooks. She said they employ about 15 people, mostly mechanics and operations crew.
Brooks wouldn’t disclose where its Richmond regional repair center is located, saying only that it is in “a part of town that has some equity emphasis for us.”
It’s one of only two regional repair centers Lime is currently operating. The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month for a 17,000-square-foot facility in San Antonio, which also services fleets in Austin and Corpus Christi.
Lime has been eyeing the Richmond market since late last year. City Council set up a permitting process for e-scooters in January, which included permitting fees up to $45,000 and regulations on where and when the scooters could be used.
A spokesperson for Lime confirmed the company won’t be putting any scooters on Richmond streets for now.
“We’re always looking to find inroads, especially in Richmond,” said Lime’s Russell Murphy. “As of this moment, we haven’t found that it’s a market that makes sense for us given a lot of the strict regulations that are in place.”
The only e-scooter company to launch in Richmond under the new regulations is Miami Beach-based Bolt. The company maintains a fleet of 500 scooters, but it’s been plagued in recent months by alleged vandalism and complaints from residents of user restrictions in Gilpin Court.