Ford’s Spin and TransLoc to Bring Sustainable Transportation to UC San Diego

Two Ford Motor Co.-owned mobility companies — Spin and TransLoc — announced a new exclusive five-year agreement with the University of California San Diego to deliver and integrate sustainable transportation modes, improving how the university’s 75,000 students and faculty move around campus.
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UC San Diego students next to a Spin Hub with a TransLoc-powered information board updating bus information. // Courtesy of TransLoc
UC San Diego students next to a Spin Hub with a TransLoc-powered information board updating bus information. // Courtesy of TransLoc

Two Ford Motor Co.-owned mobility companies — Spin and TransLoc — announced a new exclusive five-year agreement with the University of California San Diego to deliver and integrate sustainable transportation modes, improving how the university’s 75,000 students and faculty move around campus.

“The university has a long-standing commitment to reduce our carbon footprint while also supporting healthy, efficient transit opportunities for a large and diverse campus population,” says Gary Matthews, vice chancellor for resource management and planning at UC San Diego.

“With the combined services of Spin and TransLoc, the university reduces its carbon emissions, leverages our investment in transportation and makes the final leg of commutes easier for faculty, students and staff. We’re excited to watch this vision of unified transit expand and evolve in the coming years.”

Spin, a micromobility company, began its relationship with UC San Diego in 2017 with 50 shared pedal-bikes on campus. The new agreement brings 600 shared e-bikes and e-scooters to the campus, enhanced through a network of Spin Hub charging stations.

These stations have digital screens that show riders real-time campus transit data to help them better plan their journey. During the first month of this fall quarter alone, the campus community took more than 63,000 trips spanning more than 53,000 miles.

“At Spin, our mission is to use micromobility to create a 15-minute city — where anyone can get to any important location within 15 minutes,” says Ben Bear, CEO of Spin. “College campuses such as UC San Diego truly operate like small cities and working with TransLoc will help us advance our goal of easing the transportation journey.”

TransLoc, a transportation software solutions company, will integrate its orchestration software to support the university’s existing transit system to more efficiently track the more than 40 on-campus buses to provide riders with real-time data on the status, location, and capacity of any bus.

Starting next year, the company will also provide door-to-door service on campus for students, faculty, and staff with mobility challenges and on-demand services to the full campus community during non-peak evening hours when full-size bus operation is unsustainable.

“The future of transportation isn’t about one-mode journeys; it’s about offering affordable, accessible and easy-to-use options that complement each other and improve the rider experience,” says Brett Wheatley, vice president of mobility businesses at Ford and CEO of TransLoc.

“This is only the beginning of how Ford, Spin and TransLoc can help improve and future-proof mobility systems across the U.S. We’re excited to support UC San Diego’s holistic mobility needs today and in the future.”