Leaving Riders In Balance, Wheels Pauses E-Bike Sharing Operations Until April

Despite seeing an increase in demand in the last few weeks for its free-floating electric bikes, Wheels will suspend operation until the end of March to protect its field workers and the general public from the novel coronavirus.

Wheels is a bike-sharing startup that deploys custom-designed electric bikes in several domestic and international cities, including as Dallas, Los Angeles, Madrid, San Diego, and Stockholm. Similar companies, such as Lime and Bird, have been pulling out of many metro markets due to low ridership, but the LA-based startup says demand for its free-floating e-bikes has been high during the pandemic—which is actually a problem.

To protect its field employees and its customers from potentially being exposed to or spreading COVID-19, the company has decided to suspend operations in all locations temporarily. The announcement posted today on its blog says the company is aware this decision may impact peoples’ ability get to a job or pick up groceries, but it feels the right thing to do is to prevent shared bikes from being used for non-essential transportation and limit the spread of the virus.

After weighing the pros and cons, we’ve decided that the best course of action is to temporarily stop deploying bikes until the end of March and to revisit this then. To be clear, we strongly believe that micromobility in general, and Wheels in particular, is in a unique position to help our communities get through the current challenges.

This move further limits the number of choices some people who rely on the sharing economy as a means of transportation. Uber and Lyft suspended its carpooled ride programs earlier this week. Most public transportation systems in major metropolitan areas are maintaining normal weekday schedules, but traveling in a closed environment in close proximity to other passengers runs counter to the social distancing guidelines of maintaining six feet of separation between people.

Wheels finds itself in an awkward position of being in higher demand potentially because its seen as a better alternative to the close confines of public transportation, and needing to limit the risk of spreading COVID-19 by stopping operation.

“This is not ideal and we want to get out there as humanly possible,” says Todd Maron, Chief Legal Officer for Wheels. “We want to make sure the people who have essential roles have access to Wheels, that’s why we want to get out there as soon as possible, but we don’t want people in non essential roles having access to them.”

This temporary pause will help the company make changes that will enable it to operate safety, and alluded to an upcoming announcement “in the very near future” in its news statement that may allow it to do so.

Wheels members will be notified through the app when rentals resume.