By Khadn Adderley
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Electronic scooters made their way to Fayetteville, and then shortly made their way to the University of Arkansas.
On November 9th, E-scooters could be rented around the city and on campus, where students and Fayetteville residents were able to unlock the scooters with an app on their phones.
Spin is one of the two companies permitted to have electric scooters operating in the city. While Lime, another E-scooter company, is still in the process of receiving its permit.
With the Spin app, users are charged $1 to unlock the bike, and 20 cents for every minute the bike is used. Additionally, students who signed up with their UARK email, received a discount of 10 cents per minute.
The Department of Transit and Parking at the U of A wants to remind students of exercising the necessary safety precautions when riding the scooters.
“You know we understand if a students looks at an E-scooter and thinks, that’s convenient,” said Transit and Parking Communications Director David Wilson. “It’s fun to ride and that’s great, but if someone gets hurt, that’s tragic.”
Before riding the scooter, it outlines a few rules on the machine. Make sure you ride on the road, yield to pedestrians, obey all traffic laws, don’t drink and ride and always wear a helmet.
Though these rules should keep students safe, some students believe that the scooters aren’t dangerous enough to require helmets when only traveling from class to class.
“I mean a helmet wouldn’t hurt but, they only go about 15 miles per hour,” said Zaydrian Goodwin, sophomore Marketing student. “I don’t usually travel with a helmet when I come to school, and it would be weird to bring a helmet for a 4 minute ride.”
Transit and Parking urged the importance to keep yourself protected at all times to avoid any danger to the user and students walking on campus.
“The mind that you have inside of your skull, is the most valuable thing that you have,” said Wilson. “It only makes sense that you should protect that.”
The app continues to work on helmet rentals, working with Overade, to offer riders a great discount on folding helmets, which would fit into a bag or backpack throughout rides.