E-Transit in Old Town

Ok, I have to admit that I have never actually ridden on any kind of electric bike or scooter, but with how much I’ve seen them around town recently, I thought it might be nice to explore them a bit more. Maybe its the fact that they are orange now (I do love orange BTW!) but after a pilot program in Fort Collins of Zagster shared bikes, and of Bird electric scooters, there just seems to be something fresh and new about these orange scooters and ebikes strewn about town!

Spin e-bike and e-scooter on an early morning city park walk

I have mixed emotions about seeing these strewn about around town, and perhaps it is just me becoming a crotchety old man with a need for tidiness and order, or the fact that I like knowing that when I bike somewhere, that same bike will be waiting for me to take home. One thing I liked about the old zagster program was that there seemed to be dedicated parking spaces across town to leave the bikes once you were done, but I totally get why leaving that out of the equation totally opens up geographic opportunities on these newer bikes. I suppose the beauty in a program like this is that you can easily and cheaply rent transportation, and not have to worry about where you leave it (within reason). I have occasionally seen trucks picking these bikes up later to be redistributed, so it is not as if they are just permanently tossed aside wherever they lie. Anyhow, the process to rent and use one seems pretty straightforward and is as follows:

Or if you need a more comprehensive set of instructions and thrive on video, you can check out the youtube video produced by Spin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsOqEoK9KN0. OK, nevermind…..not all that comprehensive, but still, it seems like a quick and easy thing to rent and do. Either way, I like that we as a city are investing time and effort to provide transportation opportunities throughout the city, and I’d love to hear what others think about these types of programs! If you want to check out more specifics on the company Spin, you can do that at their website here: https://www.spin.app/. The City of Fort Collins has a pretty detailed FAQ page on the program as well, which can be seen on their website here: https://www.fcgov.com/fcmoves/spin. There is also a program for low income individuals called spin access, which provides reduced rates and access for individuals without phones, etc. More info on that program can be found here: https://www.spin.app/spin-access

Photo courtesy of City of Fort Collins Flickr Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Page