Bikesharing has been around for a while, but it always seemed silly to the founders of Spin that you could only ride to and from a fixed location.
So the team came up with a better idea: What if you could place bikes all around town, bikes that you could pick up and drop off anywhere?
Now Spin has become the first company to obtain a stationless bikeshare permit from the City of Seattle and has officially launched a city-sanctioned bikeshare fleet.
Starting today, 500 of Spin’s orange-colored, GPS-enabled, self-locking smart bikes will be distributed across the city to provide an innovative, equitable mode of transportation for the people of Seattle. Unlike traditional bikeshare systems, Spin’s technology requires no fixed racks and allows bikes to be parked anywhere legal and responsible.
Spin will scale up its Seattle operations over the next four months with the goal of ultimately deploying more than 10,000 bikes across the city’s many neighborhoods. The company plans to hire a local team of up to 20 in marketing and operations to ensure high service standards during this expansion.
“We could not be more thrilled to launch in Seattle,” said Spin co-founder and CEO Derrick Ko. “Our policy team paved the way for the nation’s largest city-sanctioned stationless bikeshare program by leading industry discussions and working closely with the Seattle Department of Transportation every step of the way. Together, we brought bikeshare back to Seattle residents with an affordable, equitable system that won’t cost the city a penny.”
“Spin’s launch in Seattle is a breakthrough precedent and proves that North American cities are excited to work with stationless bikeshare companies,” said Euwyn Poon, Spin co-founder and president. “The support we have received from Seattle residents has been overwhelming, and we have assembled a world-class team of business, policy, and engineering talent who believe strongly in our mission to continue our rapid expansion.”
Spin’s fleet of GPS-equipped, orange-colored smart-bikes can be unlocked by scanning a QR code, and can be dropped off anywhere, all at no cost to cities. Their management team combines experience from Y Combinator, Lyft, Uber and other technology companies.
The Spin mobile app is available at the AppStore or on Google Play. [24×7]
