Civic News

Two more escooter companies are entering Baltimore

Spin and JUMP, the latter of which also offers ebikes, are joining the city's pilot program as it gets a two-month extension.

Baltimore city’s program to test out dockless transportation got an extension this week and will put a couple new brands of escooters and ebikes on the street.

According to the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT), Spin and JUMP will be joining Bird and Lime in the pilot program. JUMP joins Lime as a provider of both escooters and ebikes.

“JUMP bikes and scooters provide affordable, environmentally friendly transportation solutions. We look forward to working with the City of Baltimore to provide more transportation options,” said Susan Hendrick, federal communications lead for Uber, which acquired JUMP in 2018.

Spin is taking what D.C., Maryland and Virginia Regional Manager Dan Winston called a “measured” approach that will help it learn how to best serve the community, and will initially deploy 80 scooters. The company plans to expand after launch and is planning a facility that employs drivers, mechanics and operations specialists.

“Baltimore is a walkable city, and has recently been expanding infrastructure for bikes. So we think it will be a successful market for smaller electric vehicles like scooters,” Winston said.

Meanwhile, the process of regulation for the electric transportation options that don’t require a station and are unlocked via app remains ongoing. The companies are operating as part of a pilot program with the City that was put in place after the City ended its station-based bikeshare program. Along with regulating how companies operate, it’s designed to help the City gather data.

Initially, the pilot program was put in place for six months, expiring at the end of February. This week, City Council introduced legislation to make the program permanent — but it has yet to be approved, so the pilot program was extended through April 30.

The City has also been collecting data, and DOT indicated that results of a safety study from the health department and a survey of 5,000 people so far have been positive; Baltimore Business Journal has a deep dive into the survey results here. A complete evaluation is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Adding vehicles from the two new companies as warmer weather comes will provide more chances to collect data and evaluate the market, DOT stated.

“Extending the pilot program, and adding new operators, is a strong statement of support from the City for creative solutions to our transit challenges,” Jon Laria, chair of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Commission, said in a statement. “I’m optimistic we’ll have good legislation in place this spring, which will allow us to further expand our fleet of dockless bikes and scooters.”

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

Tech lab space opening in new 4MLK building, thanks to $2M in public funds

EDA officials are ‘hopeful’ Tech Hubs program will live on under Trump

AI is being used in more and more of the hiring process, especially at high-volume companies

The US needs to train more cyber talent to keep the country secure

Technically Media