When shared e-scooter companies rolled into Canada in 2018, they hoped a few small pilots would quickly result in a country full of people zipping around on two wheels.
Since then, the companies which allow people to rent scooters through an app and park them along city streets have been banned from Montreal and Toronto and have barely made a dent in Atlantic Canada.
But recent wins in Western Canada and impending decisions in several Ontario municipalities could soon provide e-scooter companies the opportunities they need to establish themselves in the market.
B次元官网网址淭he wave is going to continue,B次元官网网址� said Jonathan Hopkins, director of strategic development and government relations in Canada for e-scooter company Lime.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檒l see how big it is and how far it goes and how fast it spread, but thereB次元官网网址檚 not going to be a retrenchment against this. E-scooters are here to stay in Canada.B次元官网网址�
Lime, which currently operates in Edmonton, Victoria and Ottawa and held a 2020 pilot in Calgary, was among the first to attempt a shared model in 2018, where consumers locate and unlock e-scooters with an app and pick up or drop off on Canadian streets.
The San Francisco company entered the market with a pilot limited to Waterloo, Ont.B次元官网网址檚 private trails and university campuses.
Users had to be at least 18 years old with a driverB次元官网网址檚 licence and were charged a $1 unlocking fee and 30 cents per minute. The pilot ended in 2019 and Lime did not seek a renewal, but Hopkins said the company wants to return whenever Waterloo allows e-scooters region-wide.
During that trial period, Lime competitors Bird, Jump, Spin and Roll were expanding in Canada and Montreal decided to give Lime and Bird a shot with a summer 2019 pilot.
A city report found e-scooters in the Montreal pilot were only parked in designated zones 20 per cent of the time and police issued 333 tickets to riders, including 324 for not wearing a helmet.
Then, there was the Lime e-scooter spotted in the Lachine Canal B次元官网网址� reminiscent of viral incidents in the U.S. and Asia, where scooters were lit on fire, tossed off buildings, snapped in half and even defecated on.
Montreal banned shared e-scooters in 2020, but Bird thinks the pilot would have gone differently with a greater number of parking zones in more convenient locations and a system locking e-scooters to permitted municipal infrastructure.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a use case for scooters in Montreal and IB次元官网网址檓 optimistic that the shared e-scooter program will be back (but) differently constituted,B次元官网网址� saidChris Schafer, Bird CanadaB次元官网网址檚 vice-president of government affairs.
Hopkins agreed.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 definitely not a lost cause,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 only a matter of time. I think (e-scooters) will be back soon.B次元官网网址�
Raktim Mitra, an associate professor with Ryerson UniversityB次元官网网址檚 school of urban and regional planning, doesnB次元官网网址檛 think MontrealB次元官网网址檚 experience will keep e-scooter brands with deep pockets out of the rest of the country, but he said they have their work cut out for them.
While many debuted in the U.S. by flooding the market and then seeking municipal partners, CanadaB次元官网网址檚 transportation ministry has tighter controls, he said.
That means provinces have to permit e-scooter pilots and then individual municipalities must study and vote on whether to allow companies to operate there.
Provincial approval doesnB次元官网网址檛 always spur municipalities to move ahead. Toronto, for example, decided in May to opt out of a provincial pilot permitting e-scooter trials because of safety concerns.
Schafer, however, still thinks thereB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址減ositive momentum,B次元官网网址� especially when people try e-scooters elsewhere.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 always that question of when are they coming here?B次元官网网址� said Schafer. B次元官网网址淚 hear that in Toronto and in other cities where they may not exist yet.B次元官网网址�
But Mitra said CanadaB次元官网网址檚 e-scooter market is a question mark. While the devices have become more popular than bikes in some U.S. cities, Canadians may use them because theyB次元官网网址檙e B次元官网网址渁 cool new thingB次元官网网址� or when theyB次元官网网址檙e travelling, but not adopt them regularly.
B次元官网网址淲e donB次元官网网址檛 have a clear idea of what gap in the transportation landscape these e-scooters would fill,B次元官网网址� Mitra said.
Several provinces are on their way to determining that. Bird has permits in Kelowna, B.C., Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Windsor, Ont.and Schafer saidHamilton, Brampton and Mississauga, Ont. are considering e-scooters.
Calgary, which ran a pilot between 2019 and 2020, recently decided to let e-scooters stay and Edmonton is entering its third trial season.
B.C. said earlier this year that it will soon welcome the devices to Kelowna, Vernon, West Vancouver and North Vancouver and Ottawa will launch e-scooters this summer with Bird, Lime and Neuron Mobility.
SingaporeB次元官网网址檚 Neuron Mobility wasnB次元官网网址檛 dissuaded by the rough ride e-scooters experienced elsewhere because chief executive Zachary Wang thinks itB次元官网网址檚 common with emerging technology.
B次元官网网址淚t does take some time, some effort to try to make this new type of infrastructure be well integrated in the city,B次元官网网址� he said, after calling the Montreal ban B次元官网网址渦nfortunate.B次元官网网址�
He hopes Neuron will avoid quibbles because its e-scooters come with helmets, a button to call emergency services and topple detection capabilities that alert the company if they fall over.
Mitra will be watching how the pilot and others go, hoping they give him clues about the future.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of demand and I can see thereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of potential for it to become an important transportation option,B次元官网网址� he said.
B次元官网网址淏ut at the same time, itB次元官网网址檚 hard to really understand if itB次元官网网址檚 here to stay or just a fad that will slowly disappear from the market in the next five to 10 years.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址� Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
