Council approves another season of e-scooter pilot project in Ottawa

E-scooters will be back on Ottawa streets for the upcoming season. 

City council voted 16-7 in favour of the program returning, although this time around, the city is prohibiting the use of the scooters on sidewalks for 2022. 

The companies who supply the scooters will also have to adhere to more rigid guidelines.

These guidelines address complaints of sidewalk riding and improper parking, and will improve reporting, monitoring and enforcement.

Upon hearing the news that the program will continue, a spokesperson for Neuron told CityNews that the company is excited to be returning of the 2022 season, and thinks tourists and residents will benefit from the “micromobility.”

“We saw tremendous use of Neuron e-scooters in Ottawa in 2021, with more than 125,000 unique riders in the city. Nearly half of all rides last year replaced a car journey, which we expect to continue in 2022 with gas prices still at all-time highs and as more riders see the benefit of using e-scooters to both explore the city and to commute,” Ankush Karwal, the Head of Market for Neuron Mobility in Canada, said.

This season, Neuron’s e-scooters will come with tracking that’s 50 times more accurate than the current e-scooter industry average, Karwal explained. They will also come with “an array” of features designed to support smart parking with their devices and reduce and eliminate sidewalk riding.

Neuron was also the only operator to launch a warning noise trial in Ottawa in 2021, which will become a standard for all operators in 2022.

“We think the changes being made to this year’s programs will benefit both riders and pedestrians, and we are very confident that the advancements and innovations we brought to Ottawa streets in 2021 will give Neuron a head-start on not just meeting but exceeding the new requirements for the market during the 2022 season,” Karwal added.

However, e-scooter haven’t come without their controversies. 

CNIB, the non-profit organization that advocates for people impacted by blindness, has voiced concerns over e-scooters. 

In November 2021, CNIB, along with the Alliance for the Equity of Blind Canadians (AEBC) and the Canadian Council for the Blind (CCB) held a downhill to get participants’ feedback centred on three main concerns: dangerous parking, sidewalk riding, and enforcement and reporting of by-law violations. 

Participants report seeing e-scooters improperly parked and blocking sidewalks. Other reports centred around safety for seniors and person with a walker. 

Others report almost being hit by e-scooter riders on sidewalks and the lack of enforcement of the rules.

The 2021 e-scooter season started on May 28 and ended on November 30, which means e-scooters were in use in the city for 187 days. 

The fleet last year included 1,200 e-scooters, with a maximum of 470 to Neuron, 410 to Bird Canada and 320 to Lime. 

This was twice the number of scooters that were available during the 2020 pilot program, when that year had 600 scooters on the streets. 

In 2021, there were about 127,000 unique riders: 33 per cent with Bird Canada, 35 per cent with Lime and 32 per cent with Neuron.

This was an increase of about 54,000 unique riders compared to 2020, which saw about 73,000 unique riders.

In total, there were about 492,000 e-scooter trips completed in 2021: 47 per cent with Bird Canada, 29 per cent with Lime and 24 with Neuron. This is an increase of approximately 260,000 trips compared to 2020.

Broken down further, there was an average of about 2,600 trips per day, with July and August — the busy months — seeing an average of 3,200 drips on weekdays, and 4,400 trips on weekends, with some weekends as high as 5,500 daily trips.