Spin bike-share program terminated

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story reported all Spin bike-share programs were terminated. This is not the case and the article has been updated to reflect this.

Spin, the bike-sharing company based in San Francisco, California, announced Monday its decision to terminate its bike-sharing programs at Utah State University and in Logan City. Derrik Ko, the CEO of Spin, announced the bike cancellation via email to Margaret McCarthy, the Aggie Blue Bikes program coordinator, Logan city’s conservation coordinator Emily Malik, and Jeffrey Bruce, owner of Joyride Bicycles.    

The decision to retire the bike-share program comes just one month after the company attempted to expand the USU program to include motorized scooters, which was shut down by the university five days after the scooters arrived. The bike-share program for Logan and the university began in March and was scheduled to run through November.  

The official Spin website has removed any bike-sharing information from its pages and now only highlights the motorized scooters. Some featured photos of the scooters on the site were taken on USU’s campus, but does not mention the pilot program was banned shortly after it began.

“I do think that it’s coming at a bad time because we’re going to have new students arriving and students returning, and this was a really great way to help students get around for cheap,” McCarthy said. “I am sad because I believe it was a very successful program and it was getting even more people interested in bikes and remembering how fun they are.”

McCarthy said the pilot program was never meant to be around forever but it was useful to gain data and information that can be used to find a system that will work as a long term option.

Ko said in the email that the company has shifted focus from bikes to motorized scooters to meet consumer demand after Spin data showed increased usage in the electric scooters that exceeded any other mode of transportation Spin offered.

USU’s risk management office did not immediately respond to comment on if the university has any future plans to change its policy regarding the scooters.

Logan city’s conservation coordinator Emily Malik did not immediately respond to comment on if the city has future plans to implement a scooter-share program.

Spin did not immediately respond to comment for details on when exactly the bikes will no longer be rentable, but the Spin app still currently works for bike rentals.

With the cancellation of the Spin bikes program and Utah State’s ban on motorized scooters, Utah State will no longer house any dockless transportation systems.

Spin released a statement regarding the termination of the Logan and USU bike-share program.

“We’re thankful to the community leaders who helped bring Spin to Logan, along with our riders for their support,” the statement read. “Spin is committed to making sure this transition is as smooth as possible and we look forward to possibly returning to Logan in the future with electric scooters.”

Carter Moore contributed to this report.

–laurenmarie.bennett@aggiemail.usu.edu

@laurmarben