Shared e-scooters, e-bikes should be piloted: councillor
Vancouverites are looking for ways to get around during the pandemic while also maintaining distance from others, and one city councillor wants shared electric bikes and kick scooters to be among the options.
Sarah Kirby-Yung will bring forward a motion at today’s council meeting to ask the city to work with the provincial government on bylaw amendments so that a shared e-scooter and e-bike pilot program can be in place by this fall.
In response to a provincial call for proposals earlier this year, the city submitted a plan for a pilot project to study usage patterns for personal e-scooters, which are not currently permitted on roads or sidewalks in B.C., but that means it’s unlikely shared e-scooters would appear on city streets before next summer or 2022, she said.
“I think that’s a long time off ... in terms of COVID response,” Kirby-Yung said.
She said the idea would be to have private companies, such as Lime, Bird and ofo, run the share programs while paying municipal fees to cover administration costs. For instance, in Calgary, companies pay an application fee, security deposit and an annual per-vehicle fee.
“The city is made whole, but it’s not taxpayer dollars being invested in it,” Kirby-Yung said.
Making the scooters and e-bikes shared means they’ll be more accessible to people who can’t afford upwards of $1,000 to buy one of their own, but want to avoid driving or have trouble using traditional bikes and scooters.
The motion coincides with the city piloting 50 kilometres of “slow streets” throughout residential areas by allowing local traffic only, as well as a council directive to staff to reallocate 11 per cent of existing road space — about 220 kilometres — to making “more people-friendly public spaces.”
Kirby-Yung believes it makes sense to pilot scooter shares while
these initiatives are being implemented, and also pointed to lower capacity on transit and a reluctance by the region’s residents to return to transit as reasons to introduce new kinds of active transportation and try to keep people out of cars.
“This, at least, it’s outside and we know that Dr. Bonnie (Henry, the province’s health officer) tells us that being outside as much as we can is a healthy choice, so it just makes sense,” she said.
Scott Edwards, Vancouver’s manager of street use management, said the city has already been working on expanding its bike-share offerings to include electric bikes, so it’s possible that could be in place soon.
However, when it comes to electric kick scooters, the city had planned under the proposed pilot project to study how personal scooters will be used on city streets and develop policy based on that information. When asked if it would be feasible to do what Kirby-Yung is suggesting, Edwards said he is looking forward to hearing the council discussion and the direction to staff.
“It’s very much to be determined,” Edwards said. “We’re excited about the pilots with the province and being able to advance those.”
The Moving in a Livable City consortium supports the motion’s goals of encouraging people to be outdoors, use active transportation and reduce their carbon footprint, said program manager Jude Crasta.