ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Spin Scooters delivered 50, freshly-charged scooters around the UNM area Friday. It’s their first big delivery in the Duke City.

This is not the first time we’ve seen e-scooters in Albuquerque. They briefly made an appearance right before the pandemic and caused a handful of problems in the short few months they were here.

Five years later, it seems that novelty has calmed down a bit, and New Mexicans are ready for a new way to get around town.  

“It’s one of my favorite activities to do,” said Anthony Cosentino, a UNM student. 

UNM students know e-scooters can be a huge time saver.

“We just want to go get lunch at Panera from that building right there. And, I mean, it’s taken us, like, 20 minutes to go to and from. Now, I can just zip, so I’m super excited to be able to save that time,” said Cosentino. 

But UNM students remember the last time e-scooters arrived in Albuquerque, when they wound up missing or damaged. They also almost sent a woman to prison after police caught her going the wrong way down Second Street drunk. 

“A lot of people definitely go over the speed limit with it, and it’s not very clear if they should go on bike paths or in the street or where passengers walk,” said Leoni Keiler, another UNM student. 

It seems Albuquerque city leaders and the folks at San Francisco-based Spin Scooters thought about all of that before attempting round two.

“We want micromobility to stick around in Albuquerque, and we do that by figuring out what didn’t work in the past and how can we do better now,” said Kylee Floodman, a Spin Scooters’ government partnerships manager.  

City councilors lowered the fees for scooter-sharing companies in early August, but Spin Scooters reps say better communication is the big difference.

“Having more clear, defined rules about where they can and cannot be parked. And then on the mobility side, right the operator side, being very clear within our app, within our tutorials to our riders, of those rules and regulations,” said Floodman. 

All of the city’s bicycle laws apply to e-scooters. That means using bike lanes when available, obeying traffic lights and signs, making room for pedestrians on sidewalks, and not blocking pathways when you park scooters.

Helmets are only required for children and teens, but strongly encouraged for adults.

“I think you’ll find the experience now versus a couple of years ago to be a lot different in a very positive way,” said Floodman.

Right now, you can only ride Spin Scooters in certain areas, and company reps confirmed that does not include the UNM or CNM campuses.

“It’s going to start in kind of the core downtown, closer to the University area, where you see just higher density. And then as we start seeing feedback from Albuquerque and from the residents, we’ll start expanding, maybe adding more vehicles, and adding more locations,” Floodman said. 

But only time will tell if these scooters actually stick around.

“Let’s give it maybe six months, three months, and hopefully yeah,” said Roberto Angulo, a UNM student. 

Crews delivered 50 scooters around the UNM area Friday. Folks can find and activate them through the Spin Scooter app. 

Company reps confirmed if you try riding them outside the certain areas, the scooters will automatically slow down.

There are plans to expand to other parts of Albuquerque in the future.