Bike share program brings new rides to Salisbury

A sea of orange is coming through Salisbury — a sea of orange bicycles, that is. 

The city of Salisbury and Salisbury University kicked off a collaboration with Spin, a nationwide bike-share program, on Thursday morning, Feb. 22, with an inaugural ride. From the university campus to downtown Salisbury, bright orange bikes rode down the Camden, South, and Waverly bike lanes. 

"(It's) no doubt a good investment for our city," Mayor Jake Day said after the bike ride. 

The bikes arrived on Monday, Feb. 19, and are spread out across over 10 bike racks in downtown, SU and private businesses like Evolution Craft Brewing Co. & Public House. 

For a 30-minute ride, customers pay $1 or 50 cents for SU students and staff. Customers can also pay a $14 monthly rate for unlimited 30-minute rides. 

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Spin, founded in 2016, is a stationless bike-share company. Its orange bikes are equipped with a front basket, solar-powered lights, solar-powered locks with GPS, adjustable seats and three-speed gear shifts. 

Stationless refers to the way users can pick up bikes at one bike rack and drop them off at another. To keep even numbers spread out across the rack's boundary lines, Day said they're re-balanced in the city during the night. 

Spin bikes can be found in cities like Washington, D.C. and Seattle or the campuses of Towson University and Duke University. Now, Salisbury and SU are the newest locations added to the list with 200 bikes spread out across the city. 

Hitching a ride is simple, explained Wayne Shelton, SU's director of campus sustainability and environmental safety. First, riders download the Spin app on their phones and find an available bike. 

After setting up a payment method through the app, customers scan the bike's QR code or manually enter its license plate. The bike will "chirp" and unlock, Shelton said. After the 30-minute ride is completed, customers can lock the bike to a rack. 

The collaboration of Spin and Salisbury began with an email, said Shelton.

The university has worked with a bike-share program in the past, but it turned out not to be the right fit. SU wanted a wide-reaching program to create more connectivity between the campus and the city.

“Having a bike share has been a priority for the campus for a number of years and also we’ve been more and more aware the city has made it a priority," Shelton said.

When Spin reached out to Shelton, he said the company was uniquely positioned to provide what SU needed. 

The bikes were provided to the university and city at no cost, Shelton said.

Shelton is excited to see orange bikes around Salisbury. As of Thursday morning, he said, Spin has provided around 200 rides since its arrival on Feb. 19. 

Students who don't have cars and need a way to get around can use the bike-share program, or students who want to take a break from driving, but don't want to worry about buying and maintaining their own bike. 

“This creates an alternative," he said.

International students will also benefit from the program, as they sometimes abandon bikes on and around campus after their time at SU, Shelton said. 

Matt Drew, founder of Bike-SBY, spoke after Thursday morning's bike ride. He said he's excited to see a bike-share program in Salisbury and the continuing work on bike infrastructure throughout the city. 

He expects to see people using the bikes to ride around downtown either because they're local or they drive in and want to leave their cars parked during the day. 

"I think it's another positive step for our community," Drew said. 

On Twitter: @The_MegRyan

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