This summer, Coral Gables has teamed up with “Spin,” a company based in San Francisco, in hopes of easing traffic in the area. The company, founded in 2016, works on providing major cities in the United States with dock-less electric scooter rentals, which cost up $1 for every half hour, as an alternative to cars, buses, motorcycles and other mainstream modes of transportation. Coral Gables commissioner, Vince Lago, has led the initiative of integrating these electric scooters as another form of transportation in the city.

In order to fully assimilate these electric vehicles into the city, Coral Gables and “Spin” have recently launched a pilot program in the heart of the city, the success of which will determine whether or not the scooters will stay. The program has been running for nearly a month and will end on Aug. 28. Only 75 “Spin” electric scooters are available to rent during the pilot program, though if the Spin scooters become a permanent addition to the city, more may become available. 

The “Spin” scooters are available to people in the Coral Gables area from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Although these scooters are available for most of the day, there are currently boundaries within the City of Coral Gables where the scooters are available to the public. In order to use “Spin” scooters, those who rent them must stay in between the limits of Douglas Road, Red Road and north of Blue Road, to SW 8th Street.  When people are finished using them, they don’t have to find a dock to place their scooters in – they can simply leave them anywhere in the available location. 

“I usually come and visit Coral Gables in my free time, at least once a week with friends and family. I have seen some people riding the “Spin” scooters around here, in the Giralda Plaza. I have never rented one, although I plan to. They look very fun to use.” senior Andres Velasco said. “If all goes well, ‘Spin’ scooters will encourage people to go outside more often, as well as help bring more money to small businesses in the area. The scooters themselves are pretty convenient and versatile, so I would say they can be used by almost anyone who needs to get someplace nearby.”

If everything goes as planned, the city hopes to see a big change in their usual flow of traffic. The success of the electric scooter’s pilot program will ultimately determine whether or not the scooters will become part of Coral Gables and be the way people get from place to place. Lago, who has served as a catalyst for the creation of the city’s “Spin” pilot program, has been working alongside the City of Coral Gables and hopes to see permanent changes in the near future.