LimePod Car-Sharing Service Calls It Quits In Seattle

In the second closure of a free-floating carshare in Seattle in two months, Lime has announced it is winding down LimePod.

The startup will begin taking away the LimePod vehicles from the streets of the city in October and intends to shut down the service fully by the end of the year. It will also stop accepting new sign-ups for the offering on Oct. 14, GeekWire reported.

BMW’s car-sharing service, ReachNow, stopped operating in Seattle and Portland in July.

A spokesperson for Lime said the test was a pilot to experiment with carsharing economics, and the aim was to have electric vehicles. The company reportedly said it is closing the LimePod service as it couldn’t find a partner to roll out that kind of fleet.

“The experience is a testament to the city’s forward-looking position on the future of transportation and the necessity of sustainable options for citizens,” the spokesperson said. “We are similarly committed to that goal, and the information gained during our pilot will support the work necessary should we decide to expand and improve this service with an all-electric fleet in the future.”

Seattle is the only market where the company had a carshare service that enabled users to get into a vehicle, drive to a destination and drop off the car. (A smartphone app powered the full experience.)

According to the report, Lime wouldn’t comment on the underlying economics or if the offering was profitable. However, a spokesperson reportedly said the ridership of LimePod was on the rise. Over 18,000 riders engaged in over 200,000 trips using LimePods since the rollout of the pilot.

Lime will continue to operate its on-demand electric scooter and bikeshare service in Seattle.

In February, the startup said it had raised a series D round of financing.

“We are thrilled to announce today that we have closed $310 million in a Series D financing, valuing Lime at $2.4 billion,” Lime said in a blog post at the time.