Spin rolls into city’s scooter showdown

Last of five companies adds fleet to Denver streets

The first act of Denver’s scooter saga is nearly over: The last of five competing companies is deploying its dockless fleet Friday in Denver.

“We’re coming in a little late, but we’re very confident in our service and our ability to work collaboratively with the city,” said Ben Bear, vice president of business for Spin.

Spin is rolling out 250 vehicles around downtown, Lower Downtown and River North, and the company will add 100 more in a second wave.

Spin’s entry comes four months after Bird and Lime surprised the city by deploying hundreds of scooters without getting city permission. Razor and Lyft followed as Denver established a pilot program to legalize the dockless programs.

The city has authorized up to 1,750 scooters, divided evenly between the five companies — and Bear is confident that the market can support much more.

Spin has found that its dockless scooters get used up to 15 times more often than its bicycles, Bear said. The individual units are profitable to operate, he added.

“That gap (between costs and revenue) drives the excitement,” he said.

Rides across the industry cost $1 upfront and $0.15 per mile.

In Charlotte, N.C., riders took 100,273 scooter trips for a total of about 139,000 miles in a single month, according to city data. That would be about 125 rides for each of the city’s 800 authorized scooters.

In Portland, Ore., the scooters have averaged about 187,000 rides per month, or about 91 rides per authorized scooter, according to city data.

Denver is working to collect similar data, but the system isn’t ready yet.

Bird, Lime and Spin use similar designs that were adapted from a consumer model and based on technology from the Segway scooters that were introduced in 2001.

In the near future, Bear expects the common design to evolve to include turn signals, a rearfacing light and potentially a lock to attach the vehicles to bike racks or poles. Future versions also could hide cabling inside of the vehicle frame.

“It’s just an issue of the supply chain needing to move really fast and innovating at the same time,” he said.

There’s also the question of bike lanes and sidewalks. Denver’s current rules say scooters have to ride on sidewalks. Spin plans to lobby for a change — part of its broader strategy to partner with governments and bike and pedestrian advocates, Bear said.

Spin’s rollout here will include a local warehouse overseen by a regional general manager. A staff of parttimers and contractors will charge and maintain the vehicles.

Denver’s pilot scooter program will run until next summer.