“When more people use active travel, our streets become less congested with traffic, our impact on the environment shrinks, and Edmonton becomes a healthier, more livable and vibrant place to live”
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street side rental e-scooters will be back in Edmonton this spring, potentially along with on-demand electric bikes.
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Warm weather optimal for scooting about the city has arrived but there’s a slight delay in setting up rentals. By this time last year, three companies — Bird, Lime and Spin — were already operating.
The delay is due to changes in the way the city chooses vendors. Hoping to avoid some of the pitfalls and safety complaints associated with scooter joyriders, the city launched a competitive bidding process this year to select just two operators. Bidders were asked to propose solutions to common problems with parking, and pitch plans on how they will help keep roads safe.
The two companies, which will be chosen in May, can rent up to 750 e-scooters and 200 e-bikes until December 2023. With up to 1,500 e-scooters available, this is far below the 4,000 e-scooters ordered by vendors in the first part of 2021, but the same amount available by the end of last year.
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Jessica Lammare, director of safe mobility and traffic operations, said the approved fleet size is based on what Edmontonians are most comfortable with and similar to numbers in Calgary, Kelowna and Ottawa.
“The City of Edmonton is looking forward to bringing e-scooters back to Edmonton once again this summer. When more people use active travel, our streets become less congested with traffic, our impact on the environment shrinks, and Edmonton becomes a healthier, more livable and vibrant place to live,” she said in an email statement.
Lammare said the bidding process will help manage regulatory and safety issues.
“This is a significant change from previous years when the City provided an open application process that provided a license to vendors that could meet operating criteria set by the City,” Lammare wrote. “This provides service providers more certainty in how long they can operate and give them more room to plan based on customer needs.”
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Sidewalk riding not allowed
Riders will be expected to follow the same rules as last year.
E-scooters are allowed in bike lanes, shared-use paths, and on roads with a maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour — not on sidewalks.
“To support safe operations, the City will work closely with vendors on safety education strategies and incentives,” according to Lammare.
Sidewalk-riders flouting the rules can face fines between $100 and $250. Peace officers cut scooter riders some slack in the first half of 2021 by focusing on education but escalated to warnings and tickets after a grace period.
Postmedia asked for data on injuries involving e-scooters but the city said information is limited.
According to available data based on police collision reports, the city reports eight e-scooter crashes resulting in three minor and three major injuries in 2021, and two incidents of property damage. The city, the University of Alberta, and Alberta Health Services are in the process of compiling more data on e-scooter and e-bike injuries.
one company, yeg scoot, already has electric scooters up and running. These are rented by the hour or in group packages and must be picked up and dropped off at the business’ downtown location.
