Updated at 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1, 2026
A Denver City Council committee again delayed a vote on Wednesday for the contract with Veo, the city’s new scooter provider.
This is the second time the vote has been delayed due to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's lack of access to the contract.
Council President Amanda Sandoval said the contract was delivered after 5 p.m. Tuesday night.
She also said the councilmembers were not provided a contract with a new provision about the city's access program for low-income riders after 9News reported that there was the possibility of a monthly fee.
Veo is set to replace Lime and Bird scooters beginning in May.
Amid the contract delay, people wearing “Denver ♥️ Lime” shirts or green clothing have been flooding committee meetings. On Wednesday, there were also people in Veo merch.
As the city debates a transition period, Veo has even accused Lime of "(holding) a program hostage."
Concerns about Veo's approach to an access program for low-income riders
An earlier draft of the contract with Veo stated that once low-income residents made up more than 25% of ridership, a $1 million rebate would've kicked in. Once the money from the rebate was used up, the company and the city would discuss instituting a monthly payment from access users or a payment per ride from the city.
That ridership number would likely be hit right off the bat. There are currently 30,000 total people signed up for the access program, according to DOTI, Denver’s transportation department, and up to an average of 8,000 active users per month.
In November and December 2025, 27% of rides taken across Lime and Bird were by access program users.
After the 9News article, that part of the contract was changed. However, the city council wasn’t given the updated contract till the meeting.
The new contract removes the possibility of a monthly fee for access riders, but Veo and the city could “have the opportunity to discuss” one in the case of a “catastrophe,” according to Colorado’s Department of Transportation.
Two examples DOTI cited as “catastrophes” were tariffs or massive layoffs, issues impacting Denver and Colorado currently.
DOTI said Veo understands the expectation that the access program will remain free for users.
Zach Williams, Lime’s regional head of government relations, said he was happy to see the revision of the contract, but that he still has concerns.
“Our proposal for the next contract was all built and designed around keeping free rides free, no matter the context for whatever happened in the last meeting,” Williams said Wednesday after the committee meeting. We knew exactly what we were promising. I think it's disconcerting to see a back and forth over whether or not there's going to be a fee charged for riders.”
Another change to the access program is the number of rides users are given. Currently under Lime, users get three 30-minute rides. Veo will provide 60 free minutes of ride time, with an unlimited number of rides
Lime user Keith Moore said that the change concerns him.
“Right now with Lime, I can get to my doctor 30 minutes, get back home 30 minutes, and then there's an additional 30 minutes, either go to a pharmacy or go to the store or whatever the case might be,” Moore said. “So it's those little tiny things that a lot of people don't understand and I get it, but that could really, really affect the program.”
Moore said he also feels a lack of transparency from Veo and called the delayed contract extremely frustrating.
“Them only getting this information last night is like head spinning,” Moore said. “I've tried to reach out to that group five times now since February and asking about access, because if I lost it, it would be really difficult, if not impossible. And I've yet to have a reply, email, text messages, even leaving a phone call, that concerns me.”
Joel Cox, the creator of First Mile Free, a program that aims to increase public transit use by providing free scooter rides to two transit stations, said the contract — which started with Lime and Bird — will be honored by Veo.
“We’ve been working closely with Veo, and they’ve committed to moving First Mile Free forward at full scale. We’re still finalizing timing, but we expect it to launch this year. This is a real step toward getting more people onto transit and making the system work better day to day,” Cox said in an email.
Veo accuses Lime of "(holding) a program hostage" as transition period is debated
Councilmember Sarah Parady asked about a transition period where Lime and Bird would still operate in the city while Veo begins.
Lime is also asking for a longer transition period.
“We’re asking for a transition contract for at least 12-18 months to ensure a smooth, easy transition for the entire city but especially for Lime Access riders, many of whom will absolutely fall through the cracks for weeks or months if this abrupt shift goes through as planned,” Williams said in a statement in March. “Building a new equity program of this size and scale is not going to happen just telling Denver’s most vulnerable riders to download a new app.”
Alex Keating, Veo’s head of policy and partnership, said that Lime and Bird have the opportunity to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“First and foremost, the companies at hand can do everything within their power to make that transition more seamless. They will refuse to do that because their goal is to hold this hostage, not to work for the benefit of riders or Denver residents,” Keating said. “That's playbook, right? There's no legal challenge to be made. So the next best thing is to try to hold a program hostage.”
Williams pushed back and said they are ready and willing to do “as much engagement as humanly possible.”
Keating added that Denver and Veo’s contract will be the largest single vendor contract in the country. He said the benefits of operating under one vendor are pricing, access and variety of vehicles.
Lime and Bird’s contract ends on May 15 and is not allowed to be extended without getting approval from city council, according to the city.
Keating said that the vendors need to come to terms with the fact that they lost.
“What Denver or the Department of Transportation infrastructure did was a fair and well-structured procurement and those two vendors lost,” he said. “So eventually they'll have to come to grips with that. It's not possible to extend permits and this kind of spending is normal for them to create the drama.”
Moore characterised Lime as “a good group of people. It's a group of people who care.”
The committee’s next vote on the Veo contract will take place on April 15.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story misstated parts of the contract relating to the access program. It also incorrectly stated the percent of riders using the access program under Lime and Bird.
