Lyft ends electric scooter operations in Oakland, Austin and San Jose – TechCrunch

Lyft, which just had a massive round of layoffs where 982 people lost their jobs and 288 were furloughed, is also pumping the brakes on its scooter operations in a handful of cities.

In an email sent to Oakland riders yesterday, Lyft said scooters would no longer be available, effectively immediately.

“Thanks for riding our scooters,” Lyft wrote. “We know it’s tough to let them go. But don’t worry – Lyft is still moving forward in Oakland, and is here to help you get to where you need to go during this time.”

Lyft has also permanently shut down its operations in Austin and San Jose. The decision to shut down permanently in Austin came after Lyft temporarily removed the scooters in mid-March and then brought them back in early April to better serve essential workers.

Moving forward, Lyft scooters will only be available in Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Monica and Washington, D.C., according to the company’s site. Right now, Lyft’s operations in Miami are still paused.

Lyft is not the only scooter operator that has been affected during the pandemic. Lime and Bird, for example, have both paused operations in certain markets. Bird has also similarly faced financial troubles during these times. In March, Bird laid off about 30% of its workforce.

But even before the pandemic, Lyft had ceased scooter operations in a number of cities. In November, for example, Lyft ended its operations in Nashville, San Antonio, Atlanta, the Phoenix area, Dallas and Columbus. At the time, Lyft also laid off 20 employees.

TechCrunch has reached out to Lyft and will update this story if we hear back.