“Spin has been much more than a vendor to the campus. Spin has actively collaborated with the campus to co‐create a program responsive to our unique needs and priorities… It is clear to me that they view our relationship as a true partnership, collaborating on all fronts, focusing on safety, and aligning the program to the unique needs of our campus community.” - Josh Kavanagh, Executive Director, UCSD Triton Auxiliary Programs & Services
Since 2017, Spin has exclusively partnered with UC San Diego to provide a first-class shared micromobolity service on campus. Our equitable and sustainable approach at UC San Diego has become a model for an effective public-private partnership in the mobility space, with incredible ridership surpassing over one (1) million campus trips in the last five years.
So what makes our approach unique and so successful?
Simply put, we’ve developed a win-win partnership based on a few critical components:
- Limited Vendor Program: Instead of allowing multiple companies to operate on campus, UCSD wisely issued a competitive RFP to identify the right long-term partner for delivering a best-in-class micromobility service. This successful outcome provided several key benefits to the entire university community, including highly equitable pricing options or students and staff, a carbon neutral certified operation with cargo e-bikes and industry-leading sustainability standards, and a regulated campus parking environment where Spin e-scooters and e-bikes are parked in designated corrals and hubs to protect pedestrians.
“Our strong partnership with UCSD has enabled us to offer an inclusive micromobility service that meets the needs of students and staff looking for safe and sustainable modes of transportation. With an incredible average of over 2,000 trips per day, UCSD leads the country in ridership among college campuses.” - Jesse Gibbs, Operations Manager, San Diego
- Highly Equitable Pricing: We are proud to make our shared mobility service at UC San Diego inclusive of the full campus community, including students and staff with lower-incomes and limited access to other forms of affordable transportation. To this end, we continue to offer our Spin e-bikes and e-scooters at a steep discount – as low as $0.10 cents per minute – for low-income students with a “@ucsd.edu” email address. For an overview of our equitable pricing options, please see below:
- Multimodal Program: We offer students and staff a popular mix of mobility options as a convenient and sustainable way to get around. This includes our S-300 e-bikes and S-100 e-scooters. Our current fleet size at UCSD is approximately 200 e-bikes and 800 e-scooters available for short-term rental at key campus parking locations. We have created a number of designated parking locations with financial incentives to encourage students and staff to safely use our mobility options and respectfully park devices in a manner that keeps the campus safe for pedestrians We also regularly conduct campus engagement events to introduce more people to our mobility options, teach them how to safely ride, and pass out free helmets.
Spin campus safety event at UC San Diego on 03/09/2023
All in all, these win-win policies have enabled Spin and UC San Diego to build a mutually beneficial public-private partnership that advances critical safety, equity, and sustainability goals. As we look ahead, we are excited to continue building this partnership and adapting our proven model to other campuses hoping to achieve a shared vision for micromobility.
For more information on our exclusive campus partnership with UC San Diego, please contact Brit Moller, Head of Public Policy at brit.moller@spin.pm.
