Bailey Thompson | News Editor
After only a few short months of students riding orange bicycles around Monmouth, the SPIN Bikeshare company decided to move in another direction. Although the bikes were widely utilized during their time on campus — between the months of April and August — the choice to remove the bikes was ultimately beyond Western’s control.
“Through the end of May we were having 150 rides a day on the bikes, so we saw that it was pretty successful. Students were using it; feedback we were getting was positive,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Gary Dukes. There was nothing on the university’s end to suspect that the program would not be sustainable.
However, Dukes recalled that “we got a call from them saying they were ending their program and within a couple weeks they’d be collecting bikes.” So, with that, the bikeshare program had ended not long after it began.
Looking to the future, Western is open to the idea of bringing another program — either with bikes or electric scooters — to campus, but it would have to be the right fit for the community.
“We’ve been trying to see how things are going in Portland with their scooter program because they just started it this summer, and I think there have been mixed responses to their program,” Dukes said. “What’s interesting… is in Portland you can’t ride them on the sidewalks (and) you have to have a helmet. I think that’s an Oregon state law. So, I think we’re not sure how well that would work here… if anything, we’ve been trying to look at other companies that might bring a bike program back to Western.”
With many other bikeshare programs, though, the concern is that the companies are looking for locations to supply additional funding sources beyond the ridership fees, which would essentially force students to pay more for the same service.
“I think it’s just seeing what students want to do moving forward,” Dukes concluded.
In time, Western will choose the best solution for its community in the absence of the SPIN bikeshare program. In the meantime, students will just have to wait and see what the future holds.
Contact the author at bthompson15@wou.edu
Photo courtesy of: Paul F. Davis
