Despite teasing us in February by putting their bikes on an actual street corner prior to launch, Uber’s JUMP bike share system will not be coming to Orlando after all.
Uber spokesperson, Javi Correoso, issued a statement to Bungalower (that he issued to all media groups) saying,
“We thank the City of Orlando for issuing JUMP a permit to operate electric bikes in the city. At this time, we are not moving forward with a launch but we will continue to work with city officials to consider new modes of transportation on our platform in the future.”
He went on to say that “the micrmobility industry is one that is rapidly evolving with people having various options available to them to get from Point A to Point B.”
Translation: The market is getting flooded and we’re going to wait and see how this all pans out.
As well as, “We want to make sure that the product we launch in Orlando is one that is going to take cars off the road and give residents a viable alternative to get around the city.”
Translation: These systems may not be the most economical way to make money off of last-mile transit and we need to crunch some more numbers.
JUMP has launched electric scooters in Miami and is eyeing up Tampa and Correoso says that Orlando could be next, but as we know, scooters in Orlando won’t be happening any time soon.
In other news, homegrown HOPR is reportedly working on launching a new fleet of lighter, faster e-bikes in Orlando that they designed in-house. More on that soon.
