Since the fall of 2022, SPIN stations have been popping up around campus at the University of Utah. These stations feature bright orange e-bikes and scooters as part of commuter services.
Ginger Cannon, the active transportation manager for Commuter Services, said there has been a steady increase in rides since the program first made its way to the U.
“We are close to reaching 100,000 trips by e-bike or e-scooter on campus since the launch of this program,” she said.
According to the 2023 SPIN ridership report, there have been over 73,000 trips to date — in just a little over a year. This amounts to 80,576 miles traveled, in and around the U campus. The data shows that most students ride the scooters around campus, with 95% of trips consisting of scooters, and the rest on e-bikes.
Joe Canfield, director of Affinity Partnerships for Auxiliary Business Development at the U, had a direct role in implementing the SPIN Bike partnership on campus. He’s also worked on university campaign partnerships such as Pepsi and U First Credit Union.
Canfield described the resource as “final mile transportation,” because it can get students to where they need to go on campus.
“You know, Trax and the bus and all those types and cars can only get you so far,” he said.
According to the Commuter Services website, “the cost for renting a SPIN device is $1 to unlock, plus $0.23 per minute.” If students want to use it, they need to download the SPIN app, which can be found on Google Play and the App Store.
In partnership with the Sustainability Office’s Active Transportation Initiatives, there are options for students to get some ride credits to help with on-campus transportation by using SPIN. The most notable of these options is U Bike Week, which runs from Oct. 2 through Oct. 6.
U Bike Week offers students incentives to ride bikes rather than drive their cars. This includes a Hinckley Institute of Politics forum on Wednesday named Drive Less, Bike More and doubled dollars at the U farmer’s market on Thursday
There is also a 20% discount offered at Two Creek coffee shops around campus, as well as the Utah Museum of Fine Arts cafe. All students need to do is show their bike helmet to the baristas to redeem the discount.
In addition, rides on e-bikes are free during the entire week. Canfield said that downloading the app in the first couple of weeks of the semester will give students a free ten dollar credit to use for future rides as well.
Since these bikes were first brought on the scene in the fall semester of 2022, they have been used by many students on campus.
Weekends are a popular time to use SPIN, with Saturday accounting for 20% of total rides over the last year.
The associate director for operations and logistics for Commuter Services, Chad Larsen, mentioned the priority that Commuter Services has for safety, whether it is those walking around campus or riding the bikes and scooters themselves.
“Working with SPIN we have been able to set no ride-zones, speed-controlled zones, and enforce parking in designated areas,” Larsen said in an email interview. “We are also able to appropriately scale the number of vehicles available on campus at any given time.”
He added the partnership between SPIN and the U is set to run until December of 2026.
SPIN will also be at several more giveaways for students this fall, said Cannon.
