Jump expands Seattle bike-share service area to city limits, changes price structure

Just under four months after its initial launch, Jump Bikes has a service area that spans the Seattle city limits—the third phase in a planned rollout. With bikes deployed citywide, the Uber-owned bike-share outfit will also shift its pricing model.

Bikes initially cost $1 to unlock and 10 cents per minute of ride time. Starting Tuesday, Jump is axing the unlock fee, but raising the per-minute rate to 15 cents. The difference in cost depends on how long you typically ride a Jump bike: Rides that take less than 20 minutes will be a little cheaper, but rides longer than 20 minutes will be a little more expensive.

The initial service area for the first 300 bikes went north to 65th and south to McClellan—something that looked vaguely like docked bike share Pronto’s initial service area. In January, while gearing up toward 2,000 bikes, Jump expanded to South Seattle, West Seattle, and parts of the north end.

A $25 fee for out-of-area parking was technically part of the initial rollout, but according to Uber, nobody has been charged.

All three photos courtesy of Jump

There could be another change to how Seattleites use Jump bikes soon—a requirement to lock the bikes to something instead of just leaving them in an approved spot. Current rules require bikes to be parked a sidewalk “landscape/furniture” zone three feet wide or larger, or on an SDOT bicycle rack. Jump bikes have built-in U-locks or cable locks depending on bike generation, but Uber told us they’re still waiting to hear back from SDOT about updated parking requirements.