There Can Only Be One: Grand Rapids Phases Out All But One Electric Scooter Company

We can consider ourselves lucky here in Grand Rapids that we live in such a walkable city. When you're downtown, you're able to get from place to place pretty easily without having a car.

Just like in many other cities, Grand Rapids adopted rentable electric scooters to make zipping around downtown even easier than before. And now, it seems the city has announced that you'll only be finding one brand of scooter waiting for you when you come downtown to see the blue bridge.

When did scooters come to grand rapids?

In September 2020, the city of Grand Rapids announced that they made a partnership with the Ford Motor Company owned scooter line, Spin, to bring hundreds of electric scooters to downtown Grand Rapids to help people get around a little easier. During this one year planned pilot program, the city would decide if we would keep the scooters, bikes and sit down scooters.

In July of 2021, Lime joined the electric ridable party in downtown Grand Rapids by bringing their scooters and bikes to town. Their participation in the pilot program was clearly a success...

What brand of scooter will remain?

The city of Grand Rapids announced this week that Lime will be the only electric scooter and bike brand that will remain downtown.

After the longer than anticipated trial period, the city determined that they best fit the needs for downtown Grand Rapids. A report from the city said that while both providers did a great job with their service during the pilot period, Lime's proposal met the cities needs and goals a little more closely.

What will happen to the other scooter brands?

The spin scooters won't disappear overnight, but the city says they plan to be removed by the fall. So, if you're looking to take one more "spin", you still have a little time left.