A recent Starkville Daily News article announced that Lime and the Starkville and MSU community will end their contracts together by March 15.

Lime is a smart micro mobility company that enables cities, universities, and communities to have various transportation opportunities, such as scooters and bikes, that are environment-friendly and fun.

Lime partnered first with MSU to give students an alternate option for transportation. By simply downloading an app and paying a $1 fee to unlock the bike, students could ride these noticeable lime green bikes all over campus to classes and residence halls. For every 30 minutes after, Lime would charge an additional fee of 50 cents. Lime bicycles appeared on campus on Labor Day in 2018. The contract between MSU and Lime stated that only bikes would be allowed on campus, as they were said to be safer than the alternate scooter option.

Since this partnership, the city of Starkville approved and announce that 25 electronic Lime scooters would be placed in different areas. The scooters became available in January of 2019 for students and non-students to ride. These are mostly found in the Cotton District and along Main Street.

Since Lime's original contract with MSU stated that no scooters would be allowed on campus, the city's plan to incorporate these scooters conflicted with the agreement on campus for bikes only. According to the Starkville Daily News article, Mayor Lynn Spruill received a letter from Lime addressing Starkville as an inadequate market for the Lime company to maintain its business.

Lime will pull its transportation options out of both the city of Starkville and the MSU campus by March 15, so if you have not ridden one of these new transportation options, try one soon.

To learn more about the Lime company and where these economic transportation options are available, visit their website.