Downtown Jacksonville gets 400 electric scooters

Downtown Jacksonville, FL. — There are lots of ways to get around downtown Jacksonville -- cars, buses, and the skyway.

Now, locals and visitors can add scooters to the list.

“It’s nice out, so why not catch a ride on the scooters,” Devon Evans said. “it’s something different. They took the Landing out, so we need something to do down here.”

Evans usually takes the bus, but now he says he can’t wait to hop on a scooter.

With four vendors to choose from -- SPIN, LINK Blue Duck, and Helbiz -- locals will have no problem getting around.

The scooters are a fun, new way to get around town, but there is a catch: you’ll need money and a smart phone to ride the scooters.

Riders will need to download the app corresponding to the scooter’s vendor, enter their credit or debit card information, scan the scooter with their phone, and go.

“That’s pretty cool, we’re moving up in the world,” Joel Panian said.

Panian works downtown. He says he’ll definitely be riding scooters to get around -- especially on lunch breaks, when he says it can “take much longer to walk.”

“You just rent one of these and off you go,” Panian said.

The city launched a one-year program with the companies that run the scooters -- there are 400 scooters in total.

Cox Media Group