If you have been itching to try out the electric scooters that have been popping up in cities around America, then you may be interested in visiting Asbury Park, who just launched a new pilot e-scooter sharing program last month. A major goal of this program is to free up much sought after car parking during busy times of the year. The city also hopes to minimize the amount of short distance automotive traffic. The e-scooter program named Zagster is accessible to users who download the SPIN app. Through the app users are able locate scooter stations and receive access codes to the scooters.
Safety Tips
In order to keep everyone safe and ready to ride another day, there are a few guidelines that users are asked to acknowledge like wearing a helmet. Although it’s not required, it’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially because riders are expected to ride on the street in bike lanes and follow the flow of traffic. This means that riders are also expected to adhere to traffic laws.
Despite the fact that the scooters are capped at 12mph to 15mph, it’s a lot faster than walking and makes for an enjoyable, yet safe ride around the city. State law requires that all e-scooters ride under 19mph.
Since riders must be 18 years or older, the program advises parents not to allow their children to utilize e-scooters from their account. The program’s app will soon require users to go through an age verification process to guarantee that all users are legal.
Although it might seem too obvious to need stating, Zagster requires that only one rider be on a scooter at once.
As with any project there are still improvements to be made. These improvements are being worked on with the safety of the program’s riders in mind. This includes introducing additional road signage and decals to notify users that riders must be over 18 to ride and cannot ride on sidewalks. Much like a license plate on a car, e-scooters will soon have ID numbers to make it easier for citizens to report riders’ misconduct. If everyone abides by these guidelines, the streets can be enjoyed by car-drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and scooter-riders alike.
Where can you find them?
Image from https://www.app.com/story/news/local/communitychange/2019/08/23/asbury-park-electric-scooter-ridership/2073644001/
To guarantee everyone has a chance to ride, riders must dock their scooters when they are finished at one of thirty parking locations. The fees will continue to accumulate until the scooter is properly docked.
Local program workers will be in charge of scooter maintenance.
How much do they cost?
Scooters can be rented from 7am to 9am. It costs only one dollar for riders to unlock the bike and then an additional .15 cents for every minute until the scooter is docked. To put that into perspective, if someone rode for a twenty minutes straight the cost would only be $4. Some people are even opting to use scooters for their daily commute because a scooter ride is cheaper than parking. That means less cars on the road during rush hour and, hopefully, easier commutes for everyone.
More information on this program can be found on the Asbury Park’s Official Website:
https://www.cityofasburypark.com/360/Scooters
SPIN Customer Service Contact Information:
– 1(888) 249- 9698
– email: support@spin.pm