Zagster, in partnership with the City of Fort Pierce, launched the city’s new e-scooter share program on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at Marina Square. This is the first scooter share program in St. Lucie County.
Since February 2018, the City of Fort Pierce has been working with Zagster and St. Lucie County to operate the existing bike share program. The bike share program has been extremely successful by filling transit gaps, providing connections between the parks and beaches, creating recreation for residents and visitors, and putting key destinations on the map.
To build on this success and to help move mobility forward, the City of Fort Pierce entered into a short-term, one-year agreement with Zagster to add an e-scooter share into the fleet to extend access to more types of riders. E-scooters are used primarily for transit, which makes them a great tool for plugging transit gaps for last mile distances.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
Deployment/Drop Points
Zagster plans to deploy 150 scooters for the initial launch with specific deployment and drop points shown in the mobile application.
Zagster believes the value of micro-mobility separates scooter share from static bussing and unlocks the ability to truly bridge transit gaps. Riders are given strict guidelines for how they can park their scooter within the app if they choose to park outside of a designated zone (i.e. only park next to bike racks or at a designated drop location).
Service Area
Zagster defines where the scooters can operate using geo-fencing. The GPS on each scooter will ping a satellite and operate based on the boundaries defined. The boundaries can be changed intermittently based on the demand of the area. The current service area defined by Zagster is depicted in the attached map.
For rider safety, the following “No Ride Zones” have been identified: Seaway Drive Bridge (South Bridge), Indian River Drive and inside parking garages. Once a rider enters an “off limits area,” they will be sent a notification. If a rider tries to end their trip in an off-limits area, they will not be able to end their ride, and will be asked to return to a permitted usage area
Daily Routine
Zagster is the fleet management partner for the program. Local employees have been hired to ensure that the program is managed efficiently and that scooters are collected, maintained, and redeployed each day. The hours of operation for scooter share program are 7am to 9pm. Each morning, Zagster will stage scooters at pre-designated drop locations to foster cohesion and tidy operations as well as reliable pick-up locations for riders.
Once a scooter hits 20% charge level, the Zagster operations team will collect the scooter from the field for recharging. If an issue with a scooter is reported, such as blockage of the right of way, or a damaged device, Zagster will deploy a team member to collect the scooter.
At the end of each day, Zagster’s staff will remove scooters completely from the field to be recharged and fixed overnight before being redeployed in the morning.
While Zagster will handle all operations for the program, the scooters are provided by Spin, the e-scooter startup backed by Ford Motors, who has been partnering with Zagster since Spring 2019.
Cost
Fort Pierce residents and visitors (ages 18+) will be able to rent dockless scooters for a fee of $1 to unlock a scooter and 15 cents per minute to ride.
For more information, download the Spin App: https://www.spin.app/.