And here’s what happened.

Last Wednesday, we spent the entire day zipping around Cola on Zapp electric cycles (you know, those little lime green scooters with the flags you’ve seen around town). We rode through UofSC campus, to Spotted Salamander for lunch, to Five Points for coffee + around our home base, Bull Street Neighborhood. I pretty much felt like Mary-Kate + Ashley in the moped scene of Passport to Paris (an iconic childhood moment for me).

How was it, you ask? It. 👏 Was. 👏 Awesome. 👏 (For most of us.)

🤷 First: What are Zapp scooters?

Zapp is an electric scooter rideshare company that launched in Cola the summer of 2016. The Cola connection? Founder and CEO Frank Scozzafava is a UofSC alum. Right now, they’re looking to expand in Key West and Miami.

⏮ Mind you, the last scooter I was on was a Razor with blue, see-thru wheels, circa 1998. 🛴 – Needless to say, I was concerned for my life. After I stopped hyperventilating, I called Zapp RideShare to reserve four scooters for the COLAtoday team (they don’t take reservations – first come, first served) and expressed my safety concerns. Becky laughed at me, said we would be totally fine + was nice enough to set up an in-person mini tutorial session for us before we took off. Bless you, Becky. 🙌

Here’s how it went. ⬇️

🕶 Come equipped. With literally just clothes, shoes + sunglasses so bugs don’t fly into your eyes. We’d recommend closed-toed shoes, and pants or shorts (ladies, they’re hard to ride in a dress, trust). Despite my concerns, leather jackets + knee pads are not required. They provide helmets.

📱Downloading the app is a must. That’s how you track + use your scooter. Pro tip: Do this before you go get the scooter. It takes a while. Put in your info, payment, driver’s license number, answer a couple questions, check off that you read all the fine print + put money in your account. There’s a one-time $5 account fee for new users. Time renting the scooters is incremental. ⬇️ (Pro tip: Plan accordingly. You pay up front, so if you return your scooter early you’re not reimbursed.)

$0.50 | 1 minute

$7.99 | 30 minutes

$12.99 | 1 hour

$19.98 | 3 hours

$24.99 | 6 hours

$29.99 | 12 hours

$39.99 | 24 hours

⚠️ Safety/instructional video and quiz. After you’ve finished registering, you’ll be prompted to watch a 2 min video. The video tells you all the basics of the Zapp: how to turn on + off (with your phone), takeoff, reverse, etc. This is to make sure you understand the operational basics, but also to deter drunk people from renting them (for the first time, at least – because you only have to watch the vid + take the quiz on your inaugural ride).

🛵 Pick your Zapp. Once you pass the quiz, you’ll be taken to a screen that shows you all the available scooters in your area. Select your pickup location (of 24 locations in Cola), then pick a Zapp scooter number, and press unlock. Violà. You have a ride – complete with a helmet in the basket.

⏱ Select your time. Choose how long you want to rent your Zapp. 10 mins is the minimum. We rented for six hours (a decent amount of time for touring part of the city). P.S. – Your time counts down even when you’re not riding. If your scooter isn’t returned to a Zapp location (any location) when your time runs out, it’ll automatically begin charging you until it’s returned. Oops. 🤷‍

🗺 Stay in the zone. The app shows you the area you must stay in. If you leave the zone, you’ll be charged $25 for every 20 minutes you’re outside of the zone. The zone is pretty big – we took them all the way from the Fireflies stadium to the opposite end of UofSC’s campus.

🛑 Emergencies. We had one small, non-damaging crash (s/o to Chloe and that sneaky curb), but not bad enough to warrant a 911 phone call. If you do crash + get injured, call 911 before you call Zapp. But in case of an emergency, Zapp can be contacted through the app 24/7.

👋 Returning your Zapp. Your scooter doesn’t have to be returned to the location you rented from. Check the app for designated Zapp Pick Up/ Drop Off locations, and it’ll let you know where there are open spots to park the returned scooter (you can’t leave it in a full lot). Park the scooter, press ‘Return the Scooter’ + shut it down like normal. Pro tip: If you return (or pick up) your scooter at a location labeled with a $ sign, you earn a free $3 on your account each time.

We also did a speedtest with the Zapp... well, intern Cade did, because Chloe, Beth and I were too scared to take it off level 1. 🐢 The scooter has 2 levels: level 1 ➡️ 15 mph (plenty fast for me), and level 2 ➡️ Cade maxed out at 30 mph. Speeddemon.

The verdict? We spent about $30 each, and we actually had a blast zipping ‘round on the Zapps. I’ll definitely (probably) rent them again. They may not be for everyone/every road in Cola, but the people were so great in helping us and I never actually felt unsafe. It was smooth riding the whole time. (Probably because we never left backroads. 😏)

–Sam