Albuquerque rolls out 500 Lime e-scooters

Albuquerque commuters have another two-wheeled option to zip through the streets of the city.

Lime Micromobility — the world’s largest shared electric vehicle company — delivered 500 e-scooters and 52 e-scooter stations during the first week of December.

Lime scooters were added to Albuquerque to encourage micromobility options for daily trips, swapping a drive in a vehicle for a scooter instead, according to Tim Walsh, city of Albuquerque public information officer.

“The City Council enacted an ordinance that created the Shared Active Transportation Program to allow vendors to register and receive a permit to operate in the public right-of-way,” Walsh said. “Lime is the second vendor to receive a permit. The ordinance does not place a cap on the number of vendors.”

The other scooter vendor — San Francisco-based company Spin — was introduced to Albuquerque in 2020 for a one-year program, which ended as numbers decreased due to the pandemic. The company returned in September.

To use a Lime scooter, users must download the Lime or Uber app, which will display a map of all available Lime scooters and their locations. Users in Albuquerque can rent the vehicles for $1 to start with an additional $0.39 add-on per minute. At full charge, each scooter can travel for roughly 15 minutes and can hit a top speed of 15 mph. To end a ride, users must refer to the maps shown on Lime or Uber apps and park at a designated slot.

The city does not own the scooters and only hands out permits for vendors. Lime is expected to manage all upkeep and responsibilities for the scooters.

“Ahead of launch, we worked with the city to design operational plans that will have things running smoothly from day one, and we look forward to our riders embracing our vehicles,” said Charlie Mastoloni, senior director of government relations at Lime. “We’ll be monitoring things closely and making any adjustments along the way to ensure our launch improves the livelihood of the city and the quality of life for all residents, not just our riders.”

Some Albuquerque residents expressed concern online, citing previous incidents of stolen scooters and DWI cases.

Just six days after the scooters hit the Albuquerque streets in 2019, a woman was arrested for aggravated DWI, blowing a 0.16 blood alcohol content, which is twice the legal limit, after officers pulled her over when they observed she was riding her scooter the wrong way on Second Street and failed to stop at an intersection. The case was later dropped after the District Attorney’s Office offered a plea deal to the woman.

Lime said incidents are rare and have decreased over time.

“In 2024, the global incident rate per million trips dropped by 13% from 2023 and 35% from 2022,” according to Lime spokesperson Jacob Tugendrajch. “This is happening even as our ridership grows by more than 30% a year and hit over 700 million rides lifetime recently.”