E-scooters won’t be back this summer
The city has decided the pilot e-scooter projects didn’t work so the Lime and Bird scooters won’t be back this summer. Apparently 80% of them were parked illegally during the test period last summer.
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Kate
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Ephraim 13:50 on 2020-02-19 Permalink
That number is LOW…. it’s more like it was incredible to see one actually parked legally.
Ginger Baker 13:53 on 2020-02-19 Permalink
Top contender for lamest excuse of all time.
The headline here should be that over 200K people chose this non-polluting method of getting around town.
Who cares if they’re left where they’re not supposed to be… that’s a solution that can be fixed.
This comes across as throwing Ensemble a bone… it’s disappointing. There are far greater issues at stake than disorder of scooter parking.
This is giving up at the first instance of a problem.
jeather 14:01 on 2020-02-19 Permalink
I was about to be amazed that only 80% were parked illegally. I am curious why they didn’t get a chance to fix it — this seems like a really fast cancellation.
Jim 14:04 on 2020-02-19 Permalink
Ginger Baker,
Hopefully this is more the city telling the companies that they need to figure out a way to ensure that their users comply with the rules. Other sharing services like Car2Go, although now defunct, prevented users from just parking their cars anywhere – if you weren’t in a legal space, you were still paying until you parked in a leagal spot. Lime and Bird just need to figure out how to do that. If you read the article, the GM of Lime wanted to put the blame on Montreal and claimed that a 90-day test was not sufficient time. It was plenty of time to figure out that they didn’t have a way of ensuring the things were parked properly (or for that matter that users were 18 – a third of the people I saw riding Lime were clearly under 18.
Ian 16:43 on 2020-02-19 Permalink
Lower polluting than walking? I don’t think so. Most of the ones I saw abandoned in silly places were blocking up sidewalks.
Spi 17:26 on 2020-02-19 Permalink
Of all the stupid and dangerous behaviour I’ve seen on montreal roads (god knows there is no lack of it) the worst have been from people on electric scooters even if only based on 3-months of service. The most memorable was one flying full speed in the middle of the night against traffic on Penfield. It would have only been a matter of time before someone died from it.
Blork 18:43 on 2020-02-19 Permalink
Yeah, I highly doubt even one single person chose a Lime or Bird scooter over driving. They were an alternative to walking or maybe in some cases public transit. I’m sure most people rode them for fun. Maybe a handful rode scooters instead of taking a taxi. But there’s no way those scooters reduced the number of private cars on the road by even a single car.
Chris 10:57 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
I don’t know why people are fussing. The tech exists, so it will be used. If government, police or commerce try to stop it, they will fail. We simply have to accept that it is now part of public life.
Apologies for the plagiarism. 🙂
We can regulate scooters, and we can regulate facial recognition too.
Blork 11:06 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
As the article indicates, the door is not closed to them coming back, so it’s up to Lime and Bird (and similar) to come up with and implement the “tech” that will solve these problems. If they do that, maybe we’ll see them again. But it’s not up to the city to do that. The city just says “we don’t want your shitty scooters laying all over the place; find a way to dock them or otherwise control where they are left and you can try again.”
Also bear in mind that the root of the problem isn’t technical or even regulatory; it’s human. People are idiots and incapable of doing the reasonable right thing unless you threaten or force them.
Kevin 11:21 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
The current tech bubble involves ‘disruptor’ companies that exist solely as a way for so-called entrepreneurial ‘creators’ to line their pockets at the expense of venture capitalists who are so blinded by technology they can’t recognize when something completely fails as a business model.
Bill Binns 11:55 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
In my neighborhood, I rarely saw the scooters in use during the day. They were used primarily by drunk people late at night from what I saw. I do not believe I ever saw a single person wearing a helmet while riding a scooter and I saw more than a few obvious children riding the things.
There was a lot of bad driving of the scooters which has been noted everywhere but why do cyclists get a pass on the exact same behavior? I also wonder why people driving scooters that are locked to 20 kph are required to wear helmets but no helmets required for the people riding bikes down Berri or St Denis or Guy at 60 kph or faster (Yeah, I’m sure. Don’t make me rent a radar gun).
The scooters are just the tip of the spear though. The city can ban the rentals but they can’t ban ordering one on Amazon for $300 and hitting the bike path. Our political overlords at Velo Quebec have been strangely quiet on the issue but there is a reckoning coming between the Team Spandex’s legions and the battery powered barbarian hordes about to invade the bike paths.
Blork 12:40 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
Bill, remember that the city hasn’t banned the scooters; it’s banned the DOCKLESS RENTAL of scooters. The most complaints were from people leaving them all over the place; blocking intersections, cluttering up sidewalks, polluting the Lachine Canal, etc. Nobody who buys their own scooter is going to just throw it down on the sidewalk when they’re not using it.
Regarding scooters vs. bikes: I’m pretty sure the amount of control you have when riding a scooter is a lot less than when riding a bike. If you hit a pothole when riding a scooter you’re going down and possibly taking a pedestrian or cyclist with you. Most cyclists can survive a pothole (you might get a flat tire but there’s less chance of you going down than if you were on a scooter.)
BTW, bicycles are supposed to be limited to 20kph when they’re on the bike paths. As you know, this is not enforced. But I doubt many are actually hitting 60. I know that I occasionally hit 35 when I’m on the bridge and going down the long decline, and at that speed it feels like I’m doing 100.
Bill Binns 14:41 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
@Blork
Ok, researching radar gun rentals in Montreal…
“My” Starbucks used to be at the corner of St Denis and Ontario. At least until it tragically closed a month or so ago. For years I have been crossing Berri at Ontario 4 times a day. It is not at all unusual to see bikes passing cars in free flowing traffic coming down Berri. Unbelievably, I have also seen them run the red light at Ontario at that speed, something which can only be considered suicidal.
Kevin 14:55 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
Quebec law doesn’t currently allow anyone to ride a privately owned e-scooter.
Blork 15:43 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
Are you sure about that, Kevin? I sure see a lot of motorized skateboards, hoverboards, Airwheels, etc. zipping around unimpeded by the law. I can’t see how adding a handle onto one makes it cross a line.
marco 19:43 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
Anyone who rides a low-speed electric scooter on public roads must comply with the following rules and requirements:
be 18 years of age or older
have attended the training program offered by the manufacturer or distributor registered for the pilot project 😉
ride only on roads where the speed limit is 50 km/h or less
wear a protective (bicycle) helmet 😉
use the turn signal lights to signal their intentions 😉
obey the Highway Safety Code, as well as the other conditions of the pilot project
have with them the certificate attesting to their participation in a training program 😉
refrain from carrying passengers, hauling a trailer or pulling or pushing any other object
refrain from using a low-speed electric scooter that has been modified
https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/saaq/documents/pilot-projects/low-speed-electric-scooters/
Kevin 22:17 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
marco/ Blork
That’s the pilot project, but it only applies to rental items from Lime and other companies.
There are many on the road, all completely illegal, because cops have so far turned a blind eye to them.