You'll Soon Be Able to Order Electric Scooters Through Uber

Uber announced this week that it would be investing in bicycle and scooter sharing company, Lime. Lime stated it raised $335 million in a recent fundraising round with Uber "making a sizable investment."

Ride-hailing giant Uber now plans on making Lime scooters available to rent through its mobile app.

In April, Uber acquired bike-sharing company JUMP Bikes — integrating the electric bikes into the app with plans to expand the bike-sharing options to other cities. In addition to Uber, Google's parent company Alphabet also invested in Lime. Lime says it will use its newfound cash to purchase "tens of thousands" of electric scooters.

Lime's currently one of the largest scooter and bike-sharing companies, now valued at $1 billion and operating in more than 70 markets across the US and Europe. Lime lets users rent electric scooters, electric bikes and traditional bikes through its app — it uses a dockless model allowing the devices to be dropped off or picked up anywhere in a city.

“Our investment and partnership in Lime is another step towards our vision of becoming a one-stop shop for all your transportation needs,” Rachel Holt, an Uber vice president, said in a statement to the New York Post.

Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshani has espoused that his vision for the company includes making Uber into a one-stop shop for all your transportation needs. He even hopes of one day integrating public transportation into its offerings. Electric scooters and bikes bridge the gap for those who don't want to shell out for an Uber but still want to avoid walking or public transit.

Last week Uber's rival Lyft purchased bike-sharing company Motivate that owns New York's Citi Bike. It plans on rebranding the program to Lyft Bikes. It's also been reported that Lyft has filed to create an electric scooter sharing company of its own.

Bird, a Lime competitor has also been rapidly expanding and is currently valued at $2 billion. Both Bird and Lime have faced pushback from many municipalities, even being banned in San Francisco and Denver until regulation can be implemented.

If you are renting a transportation device through one of these services make sure to pay with credit card that earns points on travel purchases. Once Lime is integrated into the Uber app, you'll want to make sure you attach a card to maximize your points on Uber purchases.