Jump’s electric bikes to be relaunched in London by Lime

Jump’s bright red bikes are being relaunched in London, the first big move in Europe since competitor Lime bought the company from Uber in June.

Londoners might have seen a few of the red e-bikes lingering around over the last month, but this relaunch marks a more practical alignment with Lime. A few hundred Jump bikes will be dropped in London starting Friday, first in Camden and Islington, and more will be added according to demand. 

These newly redistributed vehicles, as The Verge notes, may be a small surprise to some, as Jump bikes were reported to be removed from the company’s European and U.S. markets after the sale, and images of thousands of Jump bikes that appeared destined for the scrap heap made their way to social media in May. Uber told the publisher at the time that it was “recycling” Jump’s older bikes and scooters and transferring newer models to Lime.

The relaunched Jump bikes will be available to rent in London through the Uber app, until they’re switched over to the Lime app at a date yet to be determined “following further systems integration,” according to the company. Rental prices for both Jump and Lime bikes will sit at £1 to unlock and 15 pence per minute. 

Lime’s e-scooters could also be rolling out in the UK soon, as e-scooter trials will begin in the country from July 4, following a hastening of e-scooter legislation from the Department for Transport  as an additional form of public transport following the COVID-19 pandemic. Lime has announced a global partnership with insurance company Allianz ahead of this trial, reporting to provide UK riders with insurance coverage for free. 

“Bikeshare programmes like Lime and Jump will not only be a key part of London’s efforts to create safer streets and reduce emissions, they will be critical to ensuring increased car usage in the city doesn’t become the ‘new normal’,” said Florence Milner, general manager UK and Ireland at Lime, in a press statement. “Lime’s acquisition of Jump allows us to operate a multi-modal fleet, with the potential to offer Londoners a range of options based on trip length and preference, all on one platform.”

Lime’s moves come in the wake of the UK’s ongoing lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, and plans put forward by London mayor Sadiq Khan to get the city moving again as restrictions are lifted across the country. In May, Khan proposed more cycle lanes, reduced speed limits, and widened footpaths in an effort to make London more pedestrian- and bike-friendly and ease pressure on public transport systems like the tube and buses — a move echoed by other major European cities.

“The capacity of our public transport will be dramatically reduced post-coronavirus as a result of the huge challenges we face around social distancing,” Khan said in a statement in May. “Creating temporary cycle lanes and closing roads to through traffic we will enable millions more people to change the way they get around our city.”

E-bikes are still safe to occasionally use during the coronavirus pandemic, as long as the proper precautions are taken — wash your hands, wipe down handlebars if you can, don’t rent if you’re ill. And companies like Jump have been upping the cleaning of their vehicles. “We have increased the frequency of cleaning, and we are disinfecting all Jump e-bikes and scooters coming in and out of the warehouses,” a Jump spokesperson in the U.S. explained to Mashable’s Sasha Lekach. “Staff responsible for handling Jump vehicles are wearing gloves and washing their hands often.”