Salisbury’s campus is a little less orange this semester following the discontinuation of the SPIN bicycle share program.
SPIN was a program that SU’s Office of Sustainability chose to partner with due to various factors, including the convenience of the company’s system, the simplicity of the app and the overall goal to reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.
SPIN as a company decided they were more interested in expanding their e-scooters, according to Director of Campus Sustainability & Environmental Safety Maintenance Wayne Shelton.
“They wanted to transition us from bikes to e-scooters and we’re resistant to adding those,” said Shelton.
Salisbury University was apprehensive to add the e-scooters because they wanted to see how they did on other campuses. The e-scooters would be similar to the bikes, but they would have to be charged.
SPIN took the bikes off campus in mid-July, and the people who paid for the annual service got their refund back. Shelton said that he got his refund back, which verifies that the company kept its promise.
Having bikes on campus was a way for students and members of the community to help the planet as well as learn more about riding bikes.
“People who have limited experience or no experience riding have easier access and opportunity to go ahead and ride,” Shelton said.
The school wants to start providing students with opportunities for education and opportunities to learn more about bike safety, how to get basic service on them and rules of the road.
Gotcha is a company that operated during the Folk Festival earlier this month to help transport people to and from the event. The company’s different modes of transportation include electric vehicles, bicycles and e-scooters.
Gotcha wants to offer the e-scooters on campus, but the school is worried about them being abused or misused.
Shelton has looked into other places that have partnered with Gotcha and revealed that people are getting heavily upset in California because of how the e-scooters are being put in odd places like walkways and getting destroyed.
Mayor Jake Day spoke about how Gotcha has: bikes, e-bikes, scooters, little electric cars and electric scooters. The town of Salisbury plans on possibly getting more than 200 bikes, 100 scooters, 100 e-bikes and 6 e-cars.
Shelton wanted to have the Gotcha program worked out by the end of the semester, but it was not able to get worked out in time.
The new bikes would lock by having to close two locks, and if a person doesn’t lock both of them, they will still be charged because they are technically still on the clock.
The new Gotcha program is very similar to the SPIN program, but some of the rules are different. The company is trying to combat the issues of misuse and damage by requiring that the bikes be returned to a specific location or locked down to something fixed, according to Shelton.
The bikes could even be locked onto trees, but the campus frowns upon students doing so.
SPIN was different in the element that when done with the bike, they could be left anywhere, which frustrated a lot of people because they would often end up in roadways, parking lots and various other inconvenient locations.
The school is hoping to work out a partnership with Gotcha as soon as possible.
By BENJAMIN LAW
Staff writer
Featured photo: Chris Mackowiak image.