A pilot project being led by Denver South, a regional economic development organization, is using technology from Sparkpark, a Norwegian tech startup, to track electric scooters, and prompt users to put them in the correct location. It launched Oct. 3.
“The Sparkpark system gives us precise information about where scooters are parked, how often they’re used and which areas see the most activity,” Daniel Hutton, vice president for transportation and mobility at Denver South, said in an email. “That level of detail helps Denver South, Spin and our city partners understand how micromobility is interacting with public spaces in real time.”
The pilot, which launched earlier this month, will run through July 2026, with the Sparkpark technology deployed across 10 locations in the cities of Greenwood Village and Centennial. Riders are encouraged to park their scooters in particular locations near the Sparkpark antennas, which are solar-powered, wireless and easily mounted — creating “virtual docking stations” allowing riders to not only park the devices more accurately but also locate them.
“That flexibility means any city or district could adopt it quickly without big infrastructure costs,” Hutton said, noting it also makes the technology easily scalable.
Centennial has a license agreement with Spin to allow its scooters to operate in the city, Allison Wittern, Centennial communications director, said.
“That allowance was provided, in part, because the Greenwood Consolidated Metro District oversees the Spin operations and Spin has provided a detailed operations and maintenance plan to address issues such as scooter parking, slow zones, no-ride zones, etc.,” Wittern said via email, noting the program started with 25 scooters in 2024 and recently expanded to 50 scooters serving a larger area.
Cities and regional partners work with Spin, officials said, to establish geo-fenced operational boundaries, particularly around activity hubs like venues, pedestrian zones and parking areas, to implement safety measures such as no-ride zones, no-park zones and slow zones.
“Shared e-scooters and e-bikes are now part of everyday life in U.S. cities, but crowded sidewalks have shown the need for smarter solutions,” Thomas Bråten, Sparkpark co-founder, said in a statement. “With the right technology, micromobility can stay convenient without disrupting public space, unlocking its full potential and helping cities move closer to their Net Zero goals.”
Advanced scooter parking technology like Sparkpark, can help actualize scooter transportation as a legitimate piece of urban mobility, able to be implemented — and regulated — like any other form of transportation.
In the early days of micromobility, e-scooters and e-bikes also included docking stations, Hutton recalled. And then, when these proved to be expensive and difficult to scale, they were dropped, allowing the devices to quickly become urban clutter.
“This phase came with some growing pains, including scooters and e-bikes being left in spots that blocked sidewalks, ramps or roadways,” he said. “With tools like Sparkpark, we can address those issues head on. It allows micromobility to stay convenient while also being orderly and data driven.”
