The battle of Bikes Vs Cars have been highlighted in 2015 in the famous documentary from Fredrik Gertten. Now Uber is giving its own version of the match, E-bikes VS Cars! Remember Uber’s investments in 2018: acquisition of JUMP Bikes for US$100M in april, then investment in Lime for a part of the total US$335M.

JUMP bikes are already available through Uber app in everywhere (and in San Francisco since february 2018). And a partnership is under way to make Lime’s scooters available as well, and co-branding the vehicles. It confirms, it is was still needed, that Uber is adding one by one the pieces of its alternative mobility puzzle.

Is this strategy working? I’m not speaking in terms of economical result, but in terms of use… for the bikes of course. Well, a post by Uber policy analyst Santosh Rao said YES! A study of the usage in San Francisco, where Jump Bikes have been first available on Uber’s app, revealed that the 250 E-bikes are taking users out of the cars, especially during peak hours. Despite an overall trip frequency (Uber + JUMP trips) increasing by 15% for JUMP early adopters, the number of Uber trips dropped by 10%, even 15% during peak hours! It confirms that Uber trips have been replaced by JUMP trips. The graph of proportion of trips by day hour reveals that shared bikes and cars are complementary, with different peaks of use.

This results show the potential for E-bikes to replace car trips! And this potential might be really higher than what Uber is showing, as this study was made with only 250 bikes in the streets, which is way above the optimal quantity needed for an good bike density in San Francisco.