SOUTH AFRICA – Lime, a transportation company, will roll out electric scooters in Cape Town, South Africa early next year. It will become the first major micromobility operator to launch scooters in Africa.

Unlike its model in the U.S. and Europe where it deploys scooters on public sidewalks, Lime will deploy its initial fleet of scooters at privately-owned locations throughout the city.

“Cape Town is helping lead the way forward on technology and innovation in Africa, and we’re excited to be a part of that story,” Lime Global Head of Operations and Strategy Wayne Ting said in a press release. 

“Our mission is to improve urban living through sustainable, affordable transportation, and we’re looking forward to extending meaningful mobility access and reduced carbon emissions to South Africans living in and traveling to Cape Town.”

 “I definitely am keen to get that solution there as well because there is especially a very young and innovative population there that are very quick to adopt new solutions,” Bird Head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Patrick Studener.

In the coming weeks, Lime says it will also deploy scooters in the United Arab Emirates, as well Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Lime’s Abu Dhabi launch will mark Lime’s third market in the Middle East.

Neutron Holdings, Inc. doing business under the name Lime, formerly LimeBike, is a transportation company based in the United States. It runs electric scooters, electric bikes, normal pedal bikes and car sharing systems in various cities around the world.

It offers electric scooter and bike rentals in over 100 countries around the world. The system offers dockless vehicles which users find and unlock via a mobile app which knows the location of available vehicles via GPS.

Lime, however, will not be the only company operating micromobility services on the continent. Baddel, for example, operates a bike-share program in El Gouna, Egypt. Startup Smoove also operates bike-share in Marrakech, Morrocco. 

While competitor Bird has yet to deploy scooters in Africa, the company has expressed interest in deploying electric scooters on the continent.