(Image source from: ABC News)

Lyft  launched its scooter business in Denver on Thursday, the first market for the company as it expands beyond ride-hailing and into other means of transportation.

Lyft is one of a several of companies to get permits from city officials to run a dockless scooter or bike-share business. Lyft has 250 scooters available for customers and will sooner or later ramp up to a cap of 350. About 100 of those scooters will be dedicated to what Lyft calls opportunity zones, which focuses on helping customers reach bus and train stops.

It costs $1 to unlock a scooter and 15 cents for each minute it is in use, including the reservation and hold times.

The company plans to roll out scooters and bikes into other cities as part of Chief Executive Officer John Zimmer's goal of helping people better connect to public transit.

The move into Denver aligns with recent data that 25 percent of Lyft's passengers in the city say owning a personal vehicle is little crucial to them now. The launch is as well part of a larger shift within the company, which became more visible in June with a redesigned app to emphasize shared rides and public transportation.

Denver Public Works, earlier this year approved permits for Bird, Lime, Lyft, Razer, and Spin to run dockless scooter services in the city as part of a one-year pilot program. Permits were issued to Lyft, Jump, and Zanster for dockless bike sharing too. The pilot program is planned to evaluate whether dockless bikes and scooters can help the city cut down single-occupant vehicle commute trips by 2030.

Lyft was one of several companies, including rival Uber, to lose out in their bid to operate scooters in San Francisco. One-year permits have issued to Skip and Scoot by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).

Twelve companies applied to operate within the city, including JUMP, which Uber acquired in April, as well as Lyft, Skip, Spin, Lime, Scoot, ofo, Razor, CycleHop, USSCooter, and Ridecell.

By Sowmya Sangam