Lyft Inc on Monday said it would purchase the parent of Ford GoBike and Citi Bike’s company Motivate, in a move to up the competition against rival Uber Technologies Inc.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed AL though media reports in June said the company would pay around $250 million.

What it means
The company operates in roughly the same number of U.S. cities as Uber, as well as in Toronto, Canada.

What is not clear however is where or when it might expand, beyond the cities Motivate currently operates in.

The ride-hailing company also did not share when Motivate’s bikes will be available on the Lyft app.

The deal also signals a shift for Lyft toward a wider set of transportation options in urban centers.

“Together Lyft and Motivate will revolutionize urban transportation and put bike-share systems across the country on a path toward growth and innovation,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

Lyft said the bike-share operator’s maintenance and servicing operations “will remain a standalone business, retaining the Motivate name, and will continue to support bike-share systems across North America.”

The trend
Bike and scooter sharing services have increased in popularity in some of the largest cities in the U.S. over the last few years and in response, there have been recent investments in startups like Lime and Bird.

Both Lyft and Uber are striving to grow beyond their standard ride-sharing services by working bikes, scooters, and more into their apps.

Uber, which acquired electric cycle-sharing startup JUMP Bikes in April, is testing a rental service and has applied for a permit to operate a network of electric scooters in San Francisco.

By:ClaraDoku/techvoiceafrica.com