---
title: "Lyft Suspends SF E-Bikes Because They’re Bursting Into Flames"
description: "Lyft e-bikes are catching fire in San Francisco, prompting the company to pull the city's entire fleet untl it can figure out what's going on."
date: "2019-08-01"
modified: "2019-08-01"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/lyft-e-bikes-catch-fire"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "e-bikes"
  - "lyft"
  - "san francisco"
  - "the digest"
---

# Lyft Suspends SF E-Bikes Because They’re Bursting Into Flames

![Lyft e-bikes are catching fire in San Francisco, prompting the company to pull the city's entire fleet untl it can figure out what's going on.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/lyft-e-bikes-catch-fire.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Pixabay/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Down in Flames

Lyft can't seem to keep its electric bicycles on San Francisco streets.

In April, the company pulled its e-bikes in the city because their [sensitive brakes](<https://www.sfexaminer.com/the-city/ubers-jump-bikes-had-the-same-defective-brakes-as-recalled-ford-gobikes/>) were sending riders flying over the handlebars. Lyft then [sued San Francisco](<https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/07/lyft-sues-sf-over-bike-share-program/>) in early June over a contract dispute, delaying the return of the bikes until the pair reached a temporary resolution earlier this month.

And now, just two weeks after redeploying its e-bikes in the Bay Area, Lyft is pulling them again — this time because they're spontaneously [catching fire](<https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/lyft-electric-bike-catches-fire-in-sf/>).

## Packing Heat

On Wednesday, the *San Francisco Examiner* [wrote](<https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/lyft-electric-bike-catches-fire-in-sf/>) that at least two of Lyft's e-bikes have apparently caught fire in the past week.

A source who wished to remain anonymous witnessed one of the fires on Wednesday, while San Franciscan [Zach Rutta tweeted](<https://twitter.com/zrutta44/status/1155147459313598465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>) a photo of the charred remains of the other on Saturday.

The San Francisco Fire Department responded to Wednesday's incident and determined that it was a "battery pack issue," spokesperson Jonathan Baxter told the *SF Examiner.*

https://twitter.com/zrutta44/status/1155147459313598465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

## Halt and Catch Fire

Lyft said in a statement that it is "temporarily making the e-bike fleet unavailable to riders while we investigate and update our battery technology." However, it didn't clarify whether it will pull all of the e-bikes from the streets or leave them parked but disabled.

The latter option could prove unwise given that both fires appeared to occur when the e-bikes weren't in use. But as Supervisor Vallie Brown pointed out to the *SF Examiner*, a parked e-bike catching fire *is* better than the alternative.

"Biking alone can be hard and unsafe," she said. "The last thing you need is a flaming bike as you’re riding down the street."

**READ MORE:** [Lyft halts e-bike program after bicycle batteries catch fire in SF](<https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/lyft-electric-bike-catches-fire-in-sf/>) \[*San Francisco Examiner*\]

**More on Lyft:** *[Uber and Lyft Caused Half of San Francisco’s New Traffic Congestion Since 2010](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/san-francisco-traffic-uber-lyft>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)