Denver Has the Largest Free Lime Ride Program in the World. It Will Soon Be Scaled Back.

Denver residents took 5.2 million rides on Lime's rentable bikes and e-scooters in 2024. Nearly half of those trips were taken for free.

That was thanks to Lime Access, a program that lets users ride without cost if they receive city, state or federal subsidies like SNAP and Medicaid. Over 20,000 people are signed up for the program in Denver — an increase of around 1,200 percent from 2022, according to Lime. Those users accounted for 45 percent of last year's rides in the city.

"Denver is by far Lime’s largest equity program in the world, not just in America," says Zach Williams, Lime's senior director of government relations. The Denver program is also the only one in the country that provides Lime rides completely for free, rather than at a discounted rate, he notes.

But changes are soon coming to the program. Beginning on April 18, Lime Access users will be limited to three free rides per day lasting up to thirty minutes each, rather than the current unlimited number of rides.

"I don't think anyone anticipated the size it would grow to," Williams says. "That volume of free trips created an enormous burden on our operations. ...It was a really difficult balance for us to strike between leaning in on Access and continuing to grow that program...and meeting our obligations around fleet maintenance and tidiness and all of the critical work that needs to be done."

The city of Denver does not contribute any funding to the program; all of the rides are covered by Lime. The rides Denver residents have taken for free since 2021 would have cost users nearly $24 million, according to Lime. Last year's rides alone would have run around $16 million.

Cutting back on the number of free daily rides will allow Lime to reallocate resources toward improving infrastructure, outreach and other operations, Williams says. In particular, the company plans to drastically increase its "foot patrol" in 2025, quintupling the number of employees responsible for tidying up bikes and e-scooters in high-traffic areas like LoDo, RiNo and the 16th Street Mall.

This change comes as Denver City Council has considered cracking down on micromobility companies over illegal behavior by bike and e-scooter riders, such as riding on sidewalks, riding while intoxicated, and blocking sidewalks, curbs or streets with parked vehicles. The city has also grappled with increasingly frequent collisions. Denver Health registered 1,962 patient visits attributed to scooter injuries in 2024 — more than five each day of the year.

"Talking about the scale of obstructions, it’s everywhere," Councilman Chris Hinds said during an August meeting. "We don't charge the scooter vendors anything. ...We are taking the people's right-of-way and we are giving it to two private, for-profit companies, and we're getting nothing in return."

Williams says that Hinds's concerns helped inspire Lime's reallocation plan, but he's heard similar complaints from neighborhood organizations across the city; the company has been discussing reworking its equity program for over a year with the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. The company has also built 100 parking corrals, activated mandatory parking zones, and begun collecting data on sidewalk riding using new detection technology.

"It was really clear to me that we could be more proactive," Williams says. "It's about being better partners to the city, especially to non-riders who live in the neighborhoods where the highest volume of trips happen."

According to Hinds, Lime is not allowed to scale back its Access program and he would oppose any attempt to do so. The company’s licensing agreement with the city reads, “Lime shall provide unlimited, free 30-minute bike and scooter rides for participants qualifying for Lime Access.”

“I would encourage them to review their contract,” Hinds says.

“I would certainly be actively opposed to allowing any vendor to get free access to our sidewalks and streets and, mid-contract, allow them to unilaterally limit the sole benefit Denver gets in return,” he adds. “Denver receives no special monetary compensation in exchange for all of the impacts micromobility has on our environment and residents/visitors. …The only benefit residents receive — in Lime's case at least — is the Lime Access program.”

Lime’s licensing agreement is set to expire in May 2026.

Jacob Tugendrajch, Lime's senior manager of communications, notes that the company worked with DOTI in developing the change, and claims that it is allowed under their contract with the city.

He did not offer an explanation for why the contract language would permit getting rid of the unlimited free rides.

Lime Access's free transportation service has been a game changer for some Denver residents, including Max Cortel.

Cortel traveled over 4,000 early-morning miles on Lime bikes in 2024 — setting a global record for the year. He credits the program with helping him turn his life around after he wound up homeless and unemployed in 2023. Using the free bike rides for exercise and transportation, Cortel managed to secure a job and lose 115 pounds along the way.

Cortel uses the bikes to get to and from work; that's two trips right there. If he wants to go to the grocery store or run another errand, he wouldn't be able to make the return journey with the new three-trip daily limit. He can afford to pay for the rides now that he has a job, he says, but he fears what the change will mean for people who are still struggling.

"Had it been like this two years ago when I was just getting on my feet, it would have been devastating. It really would have been limiting," Cortel says. "Now that I have a job, it's not so bad. It's understandable and I want to start paying. But two years ago, it would have really slowed down my progress.

"I have a difficult time having a problem with it because it's free. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, I'm really grateful. But when it comes down to it, this is going to hurt people who are just starting," he adds.

Lime could offer a transition period for every user when they sign up for Lime Access, giving them a certain amount of time to have unlimited rides before limiting them to three per day, Cortel suggests.

He's also worried about how the three-ride limit will work when users get defective bikes and e-scooters. Cortel says he regularly has to cancel rides part way through because the bike is damaged in some way, so it technically takes multiple rides to get to one destination.

"You're always gambling every day," he says. "I've used three rides within an hour because I got two bikes that didn't work that well."

Lime will take questions and feedback from community members as the company rolls out the change; it's also working with service providers like Denver Rescue Mission and Denver Streets Partnership to spread the word. But Williams emphasizes that most Lime Access users should be unaffected by the change.

Apart from outliers, the average number of daily trips taken by active Lime Access riders in Denver is between 0.9 and 1.1 — roughly one trip per day, according to Williams. Limiting daily rides to three is intended to primarily influence users who illicitly share their Lime Access accounts with others, he says, noting that it is common to see one account logged into five different devices across the span of ten days.

Even with the new limit, Denver's equity program will still be the largest in the world and the only free program in the country. During busy seasons, the company sometimes reports up to 300 new Lime Access sign-ups per week in the city.

"We're hoping it can continue growing," says Tugendrajch. "Just perhaps in a slightly different way with more users rather than more rides per user."

This story has been updated with quotes from Councilman Chris Hinds.