City officials target bad parking in plans for 2024 e-scooter season

E-scooter riders could be dinged for a bad parking job when the vehicles return to Edmonton streets this spring.

The city is hoping to cut down on the number of poorly-parked scooters blocking sidewalks this year by mandating companies penalize scofflaws and set up more parking stalls and no-parking zones. Details are still being worked out as the city finalizes three-year contracts with the company or companies that will provide them, such as Bird or Lime.

Jenny Albers, planning and permitting general supervisor, said Thursday Edmonton is also changing licence fees by charging daily per-vehicle fees to the e-scooter companies, which should help curb problems with parking, and discourage the overabundance in some areas while expanding areas where they can be found and used.

“This means fewer e-scooters and e-bikes left blocking sidewalks and left in random places. This will improve accessibility, esthetics, and ensure the vehicles are available for riders in predictable locations,” she told council members at urban planning committee.

There will also be more slow zones and no-parking or no-riding areas to reduce conflicts with pedestrians and cyclists. Parking corrals will be available around some LRT stations and transit hubs.

Companies are also being asked to incentivize users to pick up or drop off scooters in areas the city identified as underserved, such as low-income neighbourhoods.

Ward Karhiio Coun. Keren Tang said in the past she's heard a lot of feedback about people, or even the wind, knocking over e-scooters, making sidewalks impassable for people, including those using wheelchairs.

Some companies are developing technologies to fix some of these issues, she said.

Although the details on what tools the city's preferred vendor or vendors would use aren't clear, solutions could look like voiceover alerts warning not to ride on sidewalks or installing sensors to detect when they tip over.

“We've heard a lot from the 5,000 survey responses, and other avenues of feedback, that there are things technology can address, and there are things Edmontonians can do and the city can do,” she said.

“While they're not necessarily with the scooters this year, it is something the industry overall is talking about.”

RIDERSHIP UP 123 PER CENT

E-scooters could be available by the May long weekend, months later than in some years past.

But when they arrive, more Edmontonians are likely to take advantage of them. Edmontonians doubled the number of trips on e-scooters last year compared to the year prior — about 1.06 million trips in 2023, a city report states.

While there are some issues, Tang said the increase in ridership is notable.

“I think all of these are really impressive interest and shows there is a growing interest in using these types of vehicles,” she said.

“It's obviously a mode people have really taken to, but it doesn't come without concerns around safety, around accessibility,” she said, adding she's glad to see the conversation about people shifting to use different modes of transportation.