City declares buses‘no-vaping’ zones

‘Confusion’ cleared up, offenders could face fines of up to $5,000

The City of Ottawa has taken a harder look at its transit bylaw and now says the use of e-cigarettes on city buses and the O-Train is illegal, and that anyone caught “vaping,” as the practice is known, could face fines of up to $5,000.

City Solicitor Rick O’Connor released a statement on the practice late Thursday after being asked by Mayor Jim Watson and other officials to review the legislation following comments from OC Transpo officials earlier this week that seemed to suggest the use of e-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine to a smoker without the need to be burned like a traditional cigarette, was permitted.

“Given that the City has received numerous public complaints regarding the use of e-cigarettes on buses and other OC Transpo property, it is apparent that the use of e-cigarettes may interfere with the comfort and convenience of other transit riders and users may therefore be subject to enforcement action, including fines of up to $5,000. I would like to apologize for any confusion that the earlier legal comments may have given,” O’Connor said in the emailed statement.

He noted that city bylaws expressly prohibit anyone from “interfering with the comfort and convenience of other transit riders.”

Ottawa’s public transit system is not an outlier on this issue. The use of e-cigarettes is banned on both Montreal and Vancouver’s system.

And the Toronto Transit Commission will be bringing a bylaw amendment forward later this year to prohibit e-cigarettes on all TTC property.

While e-cigarettes do not create the same smoke as traditional cigarettes, the vapour does contain nicotine, some of which the user exhales.

That exhaled vapour may be unwanted by people near the ecigarette user.

O’Connor went further to say that recently reworded bylaws would treat e-cigarettes like regular cigarettes, meaning they would be banned wherever regular cigarette use is banned.

“Members may recall that, by virtue of amendments made to the city’s parks and facilities bylaw, city council in June 2012 broadened the definition of ‘smoke’ or ‘smoking’ to capture a wider array of activities. Therefore, it is my opinion that this expanded definition of “smoke” or “smoking” effectively prohibits the use of e-cigarettes and ‘vaping’ in City of Ottawa parks and other outdoor municipal properties,” he said.

Users of e-cigarettes are advised to use the devices away from public places, and in the “smoking spots” that have sprung up on municipal property.

Users of e-cigarettes say they are not surprised by the latest ban. But they’re not impressed either.

“If they’re banning the e-cigarette, it’s because of a stigma from the cigarette,” said Davis Holly.

He switched to e-cigarettes four years ago and operates three shops where the devices are sold. Business is good, Holly said, noting he’s planning to open two more shops soon.

Holly said he doesn’t use public transit, so the ban won’t affect him. Yet, he said, it does seem part of a wider push to further reduce the freedoms of people who choose to vape.

“It’s just a small part of what’s to come,” he said.