Lyft buys Divvy’s parent company

Lyft announced Monday that it purchased Motivate, the company which operates Divvy in Chicago and bike systems across the country.

The new program, Lyft Bikes, will take over Motivate’s technology, operations, and city contracts. In addition to Chicago’s Divvy bikes, the company also runs CoGo in Columbus, Nice Ride in Minneapolis, Citi Bikes in NYC and Capital Bikeshare in Washington D.C. Motivate will hang onto the maintenance and bike servicing part of the business.

“Lyft and Motivate have both been committed for years to the same goal of reducing the need for personal car ownership by providing reliable and affordable ways to move around our cities,” said Lyft co-founder and president John Zimmer in a statement. “Bringing together Lyft and Motivate will accelerate our collaboration with cities and deliver even better experiences to our passengers and riders.”

Lyft has big plans to expand the current bike systems and add new resources, such as dockless or electric pedal-assisted bikes. It’s not clear what this new partnership will mean for Chicago, which began a pilot program to test dockless bikes on the Far South Side. At the end of June, Uber announced its own electric Jump bikes would be coming to Chicago as part of that program.

And it doesn’t stop there, Curbed.com reported that Lyft and Uber are considering scooters next. “By integrating these mobility options, the ride-hailing giants can offer a more holistic suite of transit options within a single service and app, creating a mobility-as-a-service company that can accommodate everything from a short errands run to a ride to the airport.”

The sale price was not disclosed, but the Chicago Tribune reported the deal might have cost Lyft around $250 million.

• Lyft buys Motivate, Citi Bike’s parent company [Curbed]