NC State has partnered with Spin, a micromobility company, to conduct research and provide 300 electric scooters and 50 electric bikes across Main Campus and Centennial Campus. The research will enable NC State Transportation to analyze transportation patterns across campus and provide Spin with information regarding user experience.
Nikki Olive, a partnership developer in the Office of Partnerships, said the research opportunity is a key element of the Spin partnership.
“Last year, we used Lime, but with this year, what Spin brought to the table was totally unique to them, because with other scooter providers, you don’t typically get data back,” Olive said. “They’re here, they’re a vendor, they provide scooters for campus, students can use them however they want, but a lot of the information isn’t going anywhere. With Spin being able to track that use, our transportation office has key data on where traffic flows around campus that we’ve never had before, or at least not in a scooter sense.”
Olive said Spin will use data from riders at NC State to develop marketing strategies and study micromobility on a college campus.
“[Spin is] using our campus, and this is their term, as a ‘living lab’ to learn more from our students,” Olive said. “Their scooters kick back data to our transportation office through a couple of different platforms where they can see where the students are riding, how long the trip distances are, what the peak times are, how discount codes, coupons, promos, how things like that impact their ridership.”
Maitri Dadhaniya, a first-year studying business administration, said she thinks Spin scooters are a great alternative to walking to class.
“They’re much [more] convenient; you reach your destination much faster,” Dadhaniya said. “You can take the route which you prefer instead of going through the general route, and explore stuff around campus.”
Typically, the cost to ride a Spin scooter is charged by the minute using the Spin app; according to Transportation, the “Pay-As-You-Go” pricing plan requires $1 to unlock the scooter and $0.30 per minute. Additionally, Spin offers a monthly pass and a 24-hour pass. Dadhaniya said she considered using Spin scooters but opted to take the Wolfline bus to class because it is more economical.
“If it was cheaper, I would definitely go for Spin, because it’s much [more] convenient and I could get around faster,” Dadhaniya said. “With the bus service, I need to wait for the bus to arrive and most of the buses after lunch are delayed.”
According to Olive, a common complaint regarding scooters on campus is the lack of designated parking stations, which means users park scooters in inconvenient places. She said Transportation hopes to use information from the research partnership to address this concern.
“Our transportation office, from the data, is going to be looking at where to put these physical parking stations, which may include either a discount or promo code for preferred parking compliance,” Olive said. “So instead of leaving a scooter in the middle of the street, if there was a parking hub just further down campus that you’d be willing to park, they’re going to be looking at options like that.”
In the past, e-scooters have been involved in a variety of incidents reported by University Police; students have reported being hit by an e-scooter driver, and some have sustained injuries, such as broken bones, from the accidents. Olive said Spin addresses safety concerns by implementing an automatic speed reduction for first-time riders, and administering a safety quiz to users on their first ride and every 30 days.
“For us, it was important to have a vendor that has those safety compliance features in it to do a little bit more of the prep work, so that when our students in our community are on them, we can help reduce some of those safety risks,” Olive said.
Olive said Spin is hiring students as part-time ambassadors to promote micromobility on campus and conduct market research.
“From our office, research is super important, but also student experience. So giving students part-time positions where they’re actually out and doing market research and talking with students and things like that, that was just a really cool component and add-on to an already great relationship,” Olive said. “So there’s a little more buy-in from [students], hopefully, knowing that the company is here, and they’re doing not just vendor related things, but they’re also supporting the student experience.”
To learn more about job opportunities with Spin, visit their ePack page.
