[sparky_z]

"Go-bikes" were never run by Ford. It was a start-up called Motivate[0] that licensed the Ford brand for their bikeshare service. Lyft bought Motivate last year, and is just now getting around to the rebrand.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivate_(company)

[throwaway287391]

Thanks for pointing that out -- I had no idea and it's really surprising to me. Why did they license the Ford brand? Is the Ford name really that attractive to the Bay Area bikesharing market? Would've expected it would hurt more than help, if anything. Is it just: all brand recognition is good brand recognition?

[stingrae]

I think Ford paid to have it put there (as advertising). In NYC it is Citi Bike share as advertising for CitiBank.

[throwaway287391]

Oops, that makes a lot more sense. Thank you.

[idunno246]

its more that ford sponsored it. ford bought in around the same time they bought chariot i think. it seemed like they were just testing out a bunch of things related to transportation