Lime may be the first scooter company to dabble in subscriptions in 2021

 Lime also isn’t the first scooter company to dabble in subscriptions. Bird has been experimenting with its own plan for its shared electric scooters with mixed results. Scooter manufacturer Unagi has a plan available in several cities in the US. And electric bikes are jumping on the subscription bandwagon, too, with Revel in New York City, Dance in Berlin, and Swapfiets and VanMoof as well.

Subscriptions have been a mixed bag for the auto industry. Ford walked away from its service last fall following low demand. Cadillac shut down its service, Book, in 2018, only to resurrect it several months later with fewer options. And BMW recently discontinued its own subscription service.

Other automakers have had some success. BMW, Porsche, Audi, Volvo, Nissan, and Jaguar are still offering some variation of a subscription service. Even the big car rental companies, Hertz and Enterprise, are getting in on the action. Most of these subscriptions are only available in specific cities and are still in the pilot phase.