SPIN, an electric scooter company based in California that has rolled out in cities and universities all around the country, is working to bring its scooters to the University of Rhode Island.
Last month, President Austyn Ramsay and Campus Affairs Committee Chair Michael Bentley of Student Senate met with Nicholas Paparo, a SPIN representative. They discussed questions and concerns with the scooters, specifically about their safety and use.
“I think [the talks with Student Senate are] going well,” Paparo said. “It doesn’t happen overnight, though. It’s going to take working with administration and other stakeholders as well.”
Paparo, who has worked for SPIN since 2019, said that the scooters have been a huge success on other campuses.
He said that electric scooters can be fun for students, but they are also functional. These scooters can turn a 30-minute walk into a 10-minute ride, allowing students to get to classes faster and in style, according to Paparo.
Scooters are also cheaper than ride-sharing services, such as Lyft or Uber, or even taking the bus. According to an article by Vox, electric scooters are also better for the environment than cars and busses because they release fewer greenhouse gasses, but walking is the most sustainable mode of transport.
Bentley said that data compiled from polls and student surveys have shown that students want these electric scooters on campus.
“People want to see some form of [scooters] because there’s been complaints about transportation like the shuttles,” he said, referring to overcrowding on campus shuttles and their schedule.
Bentley said that he and his successor will be meeting with administrators such as Kathy Collins, the vice president of Student Affairs.
Students and faculty alike have voiced their concerns over the safety of the scooters, according to Bentley. The University has rejected previous attempts to purchase scooters due to concerns of overcrowding and vandalism occurring on campus.
Paparo said that while SPIN cannot completely solve issues such as overcrowding, they have tools to make sure that scooters are only kept in certain areas and are not left in inconvenient spaces around campus.
SPIN also has a full-time operations team that can work on issues with the scooters on campus, according to Paparo. The team is based locally and can respond to problems occurring in their day-to-day use.
Still, there is a risk of injury that comes along with the scooters. Duke University, which brought SPIN onto its campus in 2019, has seen some injuries arise.
“About 10 students have gotten themselves into accidents on scooters since August, with some resulting in ‘serious’ head injuries, broken teeth and sprained knees, according to Vice President for Administration Kyle Cavanaugh,” read an article in 2019 from The Chronicle, Duke University’s student newspaper.
Bentley acknowledged that the University may be wary about bringing these scooters on campus. However, if students voice their support for this, the University will consider that, he said.