DECATUR, Ga. — The City of Decatur announced over the summer that while the FIFA World Cup was in the metro Atlanta region, they would test pilot a new e-bike partnership program with Lime.
On Friday, the results of that program were revealed, showing that hundreds of people had used Lime e-bikes and e-scooters to get around between June 25 and July 20 in the downtown Decatur area.
“The pilot provided an additional transportation option during one of the city’s busiest events while helping the City learn how shared scooters and bikes might work in Decatur,” city officials said, adding that “the goal was not to establish a permanent program, but to gather information about ridership, parking behavior, safety, and community response.”
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With the pilot over and the data in, along with community feedback, the city will be using the information in a future transportation plan update.
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The city said the results suggested riders mostly used the e-bike service for short trips, such as local destinations, community events and regular transit.
“The pilot showed that shared scooters and bikes can provide another transportation option for short trips around the city,” according to Decatur officials. “Many trips replaced car travel or connected riders to transit, helping people reach destinations without relying solely on a personal vehicle.”
Members of the Decatur community gave feedback about the pros and cons of the program, highlighting positives such as access to transportation and negatives such as sidewalk obstructions and potential safety risks for pedestrians.
By the numbers, here’s how Decatur road through the test pilot:
- 810 trips were taken by 510 unique riders
- An estimated 203 car trips were replaced
- 34% of trips started or ended near transit
- 81% of trips ended in designated parking areas
- The average trip was 1.7 miles and lasted about 19 minutes
- No audited safety incidents were reported
Looking ahead, the city said it was able to better understand how e-scooters and e-bikes could support transportation needs in Decatur ahead of an updated Community Transportation Plan.
As far as a permanent program for microtransit, Decatur said it has not made a decision yet, though future consideration would be guided by the pilot’s results.
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