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Spin Scooters Removed From Cache Valley After A City Policy Banning Electronic Scooters Was Cited

Electric Spin Scooters Removed From Cache Valley Rideshare Program
Brianne Johnson
Spin Scooters Removed From Cache Valley

After only a few short weeks, Spin’s bright orange electric scooters have been removed from Cache Valley. Spin representatives pulled the scooters from their fleet within an hour of being told that Logan City policy prohibits electronically assisted vehicles on sidewalks.

“Maybe when the policy was written, when they said an 'e-assisted vehicle’, they were thinking more like mopeds,” said Meg McCarthy, program coordinator for Aggie Blue Bikes. “They haven’t caught up to where technology is with active transportation.”

McCarthy says the different types of personal vehicles available make it difficult to know what is prohibited in Logan.

“The law is kind of murky, or just not really clear. It’s hard, things fall through the cracks for sure and there’s so many different organizations and different branches all operating together,” she said.

The short launch of the scooters showed huge interest with each scooter getting an average of five rides a day, as opposed to the bikes which were only getting one ride a day.

The reasons for policy change go beyond recreation, said McCarthy.

“We need to be aware that technology is changing and Cache Valley has poor air quality and anything that we can do to get people to drive less is a good thing,” she said.

McCarthy says it will take a group of Utah State University administration, city planners and sustainability groups working together for this policy to be changed.