Lyft pulls out of six US cities

Lyft is withdrawing its scooter operations from the US cities of Nashville, San Antonio, Atlanta, the Phoenix area, Dallas and Columbus.  

A company spokesperson told TechCrunch “We’re choosing to focus on the markets where we can have the biggest impact. We’re continuing to invest in growing our bike and scooter business but will shift resources away from smaller markets and toward bigger opportunities.”

As part of the move, Lyft is laying off around 20 employees from its bike and scooter teams as well as some contractors responsible for scooter charging and repositioning.

Lyft scooters are currently available in Alexandria, Arlington, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Montgomery County, Oakland, San Diego, San Jose, 622 Santa Monica and Washington, DC.

Earlier this year, Lyft recalled 3,000 electric bikes from certain brands in New York, San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC following concerns over braking systems.

Lyft is not the only company to scale back its micromobility operations. In September, Mobike suspended its bike-sharing service in the UK city of Manchester following an increase in bike losses from theft and vandalism.