DC area restaurants can rent e-bikes by the week

spin pedestal assist bicycle
Restaurants that rent a Spin bicycle will have the option to buy it. (Courtesy Spin)

D.C. area restaurants can rent electric pedal assist bikes from Spin for deliveries for $39 a week with unlimited use, an option for some owners to bypass the fees they pay delivery companies.

The bicycles come with insulated food delivery backpacks, chargers and locks.

Restaurants that rent one have the option to buy it after six weeks of rental for $500.

Spin is trying to appeal to restaurant owners who want to avoid the third-party fees they pay to delivery companies, such as Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub.

Spin currently operates e-scooters in D.C., Alexandria, Arlington County and Montgomery County. It says the weekly rental e-bikes can be used in all of those jurisdictions.

In April, shared moped companies Revel offered D.C. restaurants month-long free memberships for food delivery, though it did not report how many restaurants used the offer.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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