Lime brings electric scooter Group Ride option to US so you’ll stop riding tandem

Lime is offering a new feature for its electric scooter rentals in the US and Canada. Group Ride, which Lime announced today willing be rolling out soon in North America, seeks to ensure each rider in a group gets his or her own scooter. 

Group Ride, Lime’s upcoming addition to the US and Canadian version of its app, is designed to make it easier for groups to ride shared electric scooters together.

The electric scooters, which Lime offers to rent for around $1 to start and 15 cents per minute, have previously been a one-rider affair.

If you and a friend wanted to both scoot to your destination, you had to each have a Lime account and unlock your own electric scooter. Or as often happened in practice, one person would unlock an electric scooter and then both users would ride together tandem style. That was a breach of Lime’s rules – but that didn’t stop it from happening.

Group Ride could make electric scooters safer and easier to use

With Group Ride, a single Lime user can unlock up to five scooters at once. The feature is designed to allow one person to pay (and be responsible for) all of the scooters unlocked with Group Ride.

According to Lime:

“Over the coming weeks, Lime riders in select cities across the US and Canada will be able to access Group Ride in-app directly from their iOS and Android devices. It’s important to note that all participants must still agree to abide by Lime’s Rules and Regulations before riding.”

While Lime is trying to keep two riders off a single scooter, another electric scooter startup is trying to do the opposite. Tango is hoping to provide a Lime-like electric scooter sharing service, but with the addition of longer electric scooters designed to carry two riders. The tandem scooters, which resemble something of an electric scooter limousine, have a second handlebar for the rear rider.

Electrek’s Take

Group Ride actually seems like a really useful tool, in my opinion.

I’m sure it will be helpful for keeping one rider per scooter, but I think it will also be great for families and tourists that are trying to get around a city together.

Electrek’s own publisher Seth Weintraub recently discovered this the hard way while traveling with his family in Europe. Between his wife, kids and himself, they traveled the city on a hodgepodge of Limes, Birds and Jumps to be able to unlock enough shared vehicles for everyone to use at once. But a single account unlocking up to five scooters would be perfect for this kind of situation. 

I’m in favor of anything that helps make these fun and efficient electric scooters a safer option for city travel.