This morning in Lagos, I launched the Uber app to find a new
menu entry that wasn’t there yesterday; it simply said ‘Bike’. I
tapped on it to reveal the message in the screenshot below with a
call-to-action to join the waiting list for ‘Uber Bike’.

“Convenient, easy-to-use electric assist bikes will be in your
area soon, for hire in your Uber app. Join the list below and be in
the first group to ride an Uber bike”, it said.

Back in February, Uber made its first foray into the
bike-sharing space by allowing US-based users to rent electric
bikes — on a service called JUMP — through the Uber app.

Two months after, Uber acquired JUMP in a rumoured $200m
deal, integrated it into its ecosystem and rebranded it
as Uber Bike.

Uber Bike is currently only available in 6 US cities — San
Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Washington DC, Chicago, and
Austin. Uber already announced expansion of the service
to Europe last month but, if what I noticed this morning is any
indication, it might be coming to Lagos very soon too.

However, as a quick check around my immediate circle confirms,
it appears that not everyone in Lagos can see the ‘Bike’ menu entry
in their Uber app. For all we know, I could have been randomly
selected or a weird bug could have led to my (seemingly) isolated
experience.

On the other hand, it is not so far-fetched that Uber would
launch a bike-sharing service in Lagos, considering there are
already other players eyeing the market.

Bike-sharing is not to be confused with bike-hailing (or
bike-on-demand) which is offered by local startups like MAX
Go and Gokada. The difference is that while they connect
riders to bike drivers (à la Uber and Taxify), Uber Bike will
connect riders to bikes which they will drive themselves.

If you already imagined yourself pedalling through Lagos traffic
drenched in sweat, fear not. The bikes on Uber Bike are
pedal-assist enabled, which means they require little to almost no
effort to breeze through traffic.

Techpoint reached out to Uber to confirm whether or not the
service is indeed coming to Lagos soon; we are yet to get any
response. Meanwhile, I have elected to join the waiting list and we
will keep you posted on any new developments.

Resident in Lagos? Can you see the Uber Bike menu entry on your
Uber app? Please share with us in the comments section below.

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