Ford-owned e-scooter operator Spin has reached the 100,000 ride milestone across its six service areas in Essex, with total rides across all operators in the UK looking likely to hit three million by the end of May.
Spin is the exclusive provider of shared e-scooters in four Essex towns – Basildon, Chelmsford, Clacton-on-Sea and Colchester – launching the first scheme in Basildon in December last year.
It also runs a slightly different scheme called Spin+ in Brentwood and Braintree, where customers can gain exclusive access to an e-scooter 24/7.
The UK government launched a series of e-scooter trials last year in order to test the transport mode’s compatibility with its towns and cities. The use of e-scooters on public roads had been illegal up until that point.
Our estimates suggest that well over 2.5 million rides on shared e-scooters have been taken during the trials up until this point, with the UK potentially set to reach the three million mark by the end of May.
According to Spin rider data, its e-scooters are used for an average of 23 minutes per rider, with the vehicle speed recently reduced from 15.5mph to 12.5mph.
Spin has also given away 700 free helmets – wearing a helmet while riding an e-scooter is not mandatory – in addition to running in-person safety training events for 150 riders so far.
Steve Pyer, UK country manager at Spin, said: “The pace of e-scooter adoption in Essex represents an exciting shift to more sustainable transport in line with the council’s Safer Greener Healthier campaign. Now that lockdown restrictions are easing, we’re seeing more people use our e-scooters for short journeys to get them to key destinations across the region and reduce the number of short car journeys across Essex.
“Safety remains our top priority and we’re continuing to educate riders and the wider community about how to ride and park our free-floating e-scooters safely. We do this through a wide range of activities including digital campaigns, in-app notifications, in-person training events, free helmet giveaways. As well as partnerships with London Vision, the sight-loss charity, RoSPA, the road safety organisation and the Sensory Action Alliance, supporting those with sight or hearing loss.”
