Lyft will raise the prices of its popular street rental e-bikes next month, using a complex system that’s baffled users and prompted a revolt on social media.

Beginning March 2, customers of Bay Wheels, the bike rental company operated by Lyft, will have to pay 15 cents a minute to ride the black-and-magenta two-wheelers — a sharp jump for people who used to get unlimited rides with their $15 monthly or $149 annual membership fee. Those without a membership will still pay $2 to unlock an e-bike, but under the new pricing scheme, they will also pay 20 cents a minute to ride.

Additionally, Bay Wheels will charge $2 to anyone who parks a rental e-bike at a rack that isn’t an official company dock, with a few exceptions. The company will waive that fee in the San Francisco’s outlying areas, including the southeast neighborhoods and the Outer Richmond, where bike rental docks are scarce. It won’t charge people who park next to a dock if the dock is full.

Prices for classic pedal bikes remain the same.

Lyft defended the changes in a written statement Wednesday. “We worked with the SFMTA and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to make sure our pricing ensures that the system remains accessible for everyone, takes into account the ways people ride, and encourages parking behavior that helps ensure bikes are available when and where riders need them,” the company said.

The new prices will help minimize losses for a recently public company that has invested heavily in e-bike infrastructure and is under pressure on Wall Street to show improving financial results. Electric models are far more expensive to manufacture and maintain than regular pedal bicycles. The company pays for workers and equipment to collect and redistribute all the e-bikes that people leave at random locations. On top of that, Lyft coughs up fines when people stash e-bikes improperly on streets or public sidewalks.

“This is a money-losing business that they’re involved in,” said Randy Rentschler, legislative director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which signed a contract with Lyft to build a regional bike network at no cost to taxpayers. Lyft provides that service through its classic pedal bikes, and the company has spent millions installing docks at curbs and outside transit hubs.

“They’re adhering to many policies they agreed to” on the pedal bikes, Rentschler said. But the e-bikes are a premium service, he noted, adding that it’s “more than reasonable” for Lyft to charge more money to ride them.

Still, Bay Wheels users balked at the price hikes. Some said the new system is complex and intimidating, and will discourage people from trying a healthy, eco-friendly form of transportation. Others were angry that the prices for low-income users also went up, via Bay Wheels’ Bike Share for All program. Those who qualify will continue paying $5 for their first year and $5 per month thereafter. Starting March 2, however, they will also pay 5 cents a minute for each e-bike ride, with the fare capped at $1.

“When you put all this together, it’s overwhelming for the consumer,” Bay Wheels member Brad Williford said. He regularly rents an e-bike to get from his home in the Mission to a friend’s house in the Marina District — a journey that used to be free with the membership. Next week it will cost $5, he calculated: $3 for the time spent zipping across town, and $2 if he doesn’t feel like circling the block to find a station.

Several people announced on Twitter this week that they had canceled their memberships in protest. Among them is Andy Thornley, a senior analyst for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. He lives in the world of transportation pricing, but said that even he was confused by Bay Wheels’ new method.

“The new Bay Wheels pricing scheme would take me from casually jumping on a (street-rented) bike, to stopping and thinking about the cost,” Thornley tweeted on Tuesday. “Regardless of the price, that pause is deadly for widespread, routine use.”

South of Market resident Parker Day echoed that sentiment. He took 56 Bay Wheels rides in February — mostly on e-bikes — but canceled his membership when the company announced its new rates last week.

“I looked at the cost, and it’s just insane,” Day said. “I’ll have to take Muni or find some other way of getting around.”

The hikes coincide with the exit of Lyft’s only bike rental competitor, Jump, which is run by rival company Uber. It will pull its bright red electric bikes off San Francisco streets when its permit expires on March 1.

In an email, Uber spokesman Nick Smith expressed hope that Jump would eventually reach an agreement with the Municipal Transportation Agency, allowing San Francisco residents to have more than one bike rental operator.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan