Taylor Walding You may notice the recent influx of bright orange bikes and scooters scattered about campus, but you’ll want to weigh the cost. SPIN rents out its bicycles for 50 cents per half-hour and motorized scooters for $1 plus 15 cents for each minute. It also offers a monthly membership fee for $29 that allows unlimited 30-minute rides, meaning you really get a deal only if you ride the bikes every single day. Provided you have good internet connection and have downloaded the correct app — unlike myself — it’s a fairly simple process to rent a bike or scooter. You can enter credit card information to pay for your rides or use promo codes for a free ride. The bicycles, which are not motorized, can be a great option for students who occasionally need a quick ride across campus or who simply prefer not to walk. However, if you do enjoy riding bikes and may find having one on campus helpful, it seems more cost-efficient to simply purchase a bike of your own rather than rent one on a regular basis. To put costs in perspective, renting a bike for one year with the monthly membership would cost $348. Walmart carries basic bikes for around $100, so consider how often you may want to use it before buying a membership. The scooters, on the other hand, are worth the money spent. After a quick manual push, you press and hold the throttle to power your ride. Scooters can be a fun and hassle-free way to travel, but I strongly advise you to be careful. When traveling downhill, scooters will reach speeds of up to 20 mph. While the company and app say to use helmets when riding, it seems unlikely to be enforced on campus, as I have yet to observe a single helmet-clad rider. Given the number of bumps and uneven bricks there are on Troy’s sidewalks, injuries while riding these scooters seem inevitable. My advice is might you weigh the cost, be safe and most importantly, enjoy the ride.
Staff Writer
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