ANN ARBOR, MI — Rentable electric bikes are expected to hit the streets of Ann Arbor soon.
City Council voted unanimously Monday night, March 20, to OK an agreement with Spin Inc. for a new bike-share program that allows 100 dockless e-bikes to be deployed in the city.
Spin already has 400 dockless e-scooters in the city — found mostly along city sidewalks and the University of Michigan campus — that anyone can rent using the Spin mobile app. The e-bikes, which can go up to 20 mph, will operate similarly.
Council Member Dharma Akmon, D-4th Ward, expressed excitement about the new program, which is in line with the city’s sustainability and mobility goals.
Spin will share data so the city can see where e-scooter and e-bike use is strongest and which routes people are taking, which helps with mobility planning, Akmon said.
She noted Spin has implemented equity options for people with limited incomes to pay reduced fees, and people can get special cards to use if they don’t have smart phones.
Spin has operated in Ann Arbor since 2019 and pays the city $1 per scooter per day in licensing fees. Under the new agreement, Spin has requested a reduced licensing fee to offset increased operational costs to deploy e-bikes, said Raymond Hess, city transportation manager, noting the new charge will be 20 cents per e-scooter or e-bike per day.
That will reduce the annual fees collected by the city from about $73,000 per year to about $18,250 per year, but it’s reasonable because e-bikes are costlier, Hess said.
“Additionally, city staff have found that many communities pay for these shared mobility services — and this arrangement still results in fees paid to the city,” he wrote in a memo.
The last four years of having Spin in Ann Arbor have shown the company is responsive, which has required much less city staff overhead than expected, Hess added.
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