Asbury Park’s new electric scooter share program launches today (May 21) with LINK (powered by Superpedestrian).
The program includes up to 250 scooters stationed at over 50 designated parking locations around Asbury Park for riders 18 years and older. Scooters will be available from 7 am to 9 pm every day at a cost of $1 plus $0.35 per minute. Users will download the LINK app to their mobile phone to set up an account, find a map of scooter locations, pay for sessions, and ‘unlock’ scooters for use with a QR code scan. Scooters must be operated on City streets in bike lanes when available, and never on sidewalks.
Scooter speeds will be physically capped at 12 mph city-wide, with additional slower speed zones enabled for areas with high pedestrian concentrations and certain areas of city parks. No ride zones are designated along the Asbury Park Boardwalk, in certain areas of city parks, and in the downtown pedestrian zone. LINK’s scooters are equipped with onboard, instant geofencing and a comprehensive vehicle operating system that autonomously monitors the vehicle, ensuring it remains safe to operate and responsive to city rules and regulations. Each scooter has patented technology that monitors every scooter component over 1,000 times per second, instantly self-protecting critical systems if an issue arises and communicating with the local operations team.
Riders will be required to complete a safety quiz before taking their first ride with Asbury Park’s rules of the road, which include no riding on sidewalks, always riding in the direction of traffic and stopping for pedestrians, red lights, and stop signs. LINK will hold regular in-person safety workshops to instruct riders on the rules of the road. The next workshop is scheduled for the Safe Streets Summer Kickoff hosted by the Quality of Life and Mayor’s Wellness Committees on Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 6 pm in the Transportation Center parking lot.
“Scooters are an affordable, convenient and fun way to travel around the City,” said Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, “We learned quite a bit from the scooter-share pilot program in 2019 and made sure to select a vendor who truly puts safety as the first priority. Resident interest in a City-wide scooter program is high—we saw with the pilot that people from all over the City took advantage of the program. Scooters are a great alternative to driving within Asbury Park and provide access to local destinations for those who don’t have a car. We will continue to welcome feedback and evaluate changes to the program to ensure successful and safe operation of the scooters.”
Qualifying residents can apply for the LINK-Up program, which offers a 70 percent reduction in fares to economically disadvantaged riders.
Residents may report any issues with scooter operation to LINK by calling 844-701-8163 or using the ‘Report a Concern’ tool on the City’s website at www.cityofasburypark.com and selecting ‘Scooters’ as the Issue Type.
For more information, visit www.cityofasburypark.com/scooters.
