Everyday Heroes Have Traveled Over 25,000 miles with Spin

While much of the world stopped moving, many did not have the privilege of working from home because their livelihood was deemed critical in the fight against COVID-19. Even with the uncertainty presented by COVID-19, we knew our service could support those essential workers who needed access to safe and reliable transportation options. Our operations team worked tirelessly to ensure e-scooters were available in front of hospitals, in neighborhoods, outside of grocery stores, for those who needed a safe option to make essential trips.

On April 1st, Spin launched its Everyday Heroes program which provided free 30 minute rides to healthcare workers in our operating markets. Initially, we offered the program in eight cities and immediately saw nearly 300 healthcare workers sign up in the first few days. As we expanded the program to cities where we resumed operations in both May and June, we began to learn even more from our riders about the way they were using our service. 83 percent of people that responded to our Everyday Heroes survey said they were using Spin for their commute to work; followed by grocery store trips (31 percent), and going to restaurants to pick up food and accessing healthcare (both at 24 percent).

“Everyday Heroes was a lifesaver. Having a Spin scooter was literally my only option to get to work at a time when I didn’t have a car, ride share was non-existent because of COVID, and my work hours at the hospital were increased and more erratic. I’m an anesthesiologist at Hopkins. Spin saved me tons of time, stress, and money. I spread the word to as many people as I could that everyone should be using Spin to get around. I appreciate the quality build of scooters and the ideals of the company that stands behind it. You have another loyal customer. Thank you!”

— Sabair, Baltimore, MD

Our rider feedback made it clear that COVID-19 impacted the transportation decisions made by essential workers from April to June, and will further impact the decisions they make in a post-COVID-19 world:

• During the program, essential workers rode scooters more often than ever before. Prior to the program, 24 percent of participants rode scooters on a weekly basis. Whereas during the program, 78 percent said they rode weekly.
• Scooters provided additional options for essential trips. Prior to the program, nearly all respondents (96 percent) stated they used public transit as one way to commute to and from work. This decreased to 43 percent during the program with 50 percent planning to go back to public transit in the future.
• Riding scooters to and from work and to complete essential trips was an enjoyable way to move. Everyday Heroes riders reported a high degree of satisfaction, with over 88 percent of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing to being satisfied with the program. 82 percent would recommend Spin to friends and family.

“It was a very fast way to get to work and run errands without having to worry about where I’d park. Also, it was great to not have to worry about who I was riding with in a rideshare.”

— Philip, San Francisco, CA

What’s clear is now more than ever, essential workers are looking for safe, affordable options. With that in mind, we are now working with private and public entities to expand and extend this offering to continue supporting essential workers throughout the pandemic.

Public & Private Partnerships Extend Everyday Heroes Program in Washington, D.C. and Detroit, MI

Washington, D.C.’s Unique Approach to Transportation Equity

Washington, D.C. has taken a unique approach. Operators are eligible for fleet increases based on the percentage of riders who receive discounts through low income or essential worker programs. Under D.C.’s new framework, D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) allows providers an additional 50 to 200 scooters per week (up to a fleet cap of 2,500) if the percentage of trips taken by riders meets the threshold. As a result, we’ve expanded Everyday Heroes to more essential workers in need of transportation including those working at grocery stores, for public transit agencies, and local restaurants.

Not only does this incentivize micromobility operators to make meaningful efforts to raise awareness and expand discount programs to communities that would benefit from them, it also allows operators to increase trips overall, helping to ensure that subsidizing discounted rides is sustainable.

Since the program kicked off we have averaged 300 active users per week, and we have seen usage steadily increase, with our trips growing by 35 percent week over week.

NUMO’s Support Extends Free Rides for Healthcare Workers in Detroit, MI

As one of the early cities hit hard by COVID-19, Detroit knew offering safe and reliable transportation options would pose a challenge, especially ensuring healthcare workers could commute safely every day. To address this need, Spin partnered with two local hospitals — Henry Ford Hospital and Detroit Medical Center — to sign-up nearly 200 individuals for the Everyday Heroes program. To date, those Everyday Heroes have averaged 2.8 trips per user per day.

The City of Detroit saw the value of the Everyday Heroes program, and worked with Spin to identify a partner in the New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) to extend funding for the program through October. (This supplements another pilot program Spin is participating in, with support from NUMO and NextEnergy, to provide hospital, grocery store, pharmacy, and manufacturing employees with a leased bike or e-scooter on a monthly basis).

“Our essential workers are vital in overcoming this crisis, but they face tremendous daily challenges like lack of access to reliable, safe and convenient transportation to and from frontline jobs. NUMO is pleased to work with Spin, the city of Detroit, and other partners to support expanding the mobility of critical employees during the pandemic and recovery.”

— Harriet Tregoning, director of NUMO

The City and NUMO intend to evaluate the effectiveness of both programs in providing safe and reliable transportation for essential workers, and consider opportunities to establish similar programs long-term. This could include expanding eligibility criteria to reach more people who could benefit from our service.

The New Normal

Over the past few months, essential workers have traveled over 25,000 miles on Spin, from Baltimore to San Francisco to Denver and everywhere in between. But it hasn’t ended there. Since the program’s end in a majority of cities three weeks ago, 34 percent of participants have continued to take a Spin (excluding D.C. and Detroit where the programs are still active). We are seeing a new normal emerge in transportation, as scooting to work or to run errands becomes part of everyday life, and it is imperative that we work with our partners to ensure our service is affordable, equitable and reliable.

This new normal is reinforcing what the industry has always known, micromobility can be a true solution for cities if we develop partnerships centered on shared goals. By working together with cities and other stakeholders to deliver these partnerships, we can reach more people in need of safe, reliable, and affordable transportation options moving forward.

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