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Riders could be hit with new fines when e-scooters return to Calgary this spring
Calgary’s fleet of e-bikes and e-scooters were a big hit during their pilot year on Calgary streets — but proposed changes to their operation could make phase two look a little different.In the first year of e-bikes being made available and first four months of e-scooters, 206,000 riders recorded a total of 918,000 trips, travelling 1.6…
Calgary's fleet of e-bikes and e-scooters were a big hit during their pilot year on Calgary streets — but proposed changes to their operation could make phase two look a little different.
Calgary's fleet of e-bikes and e-scooters were a big hit during their pilot year on city streets — but proposed operating changes could make phase two look a little different.
As part of a transportation and transit committee meeting, Calgary council met Wednesday to discuss how the first year of the pilot had gone.
“It's really clear that Calgarians love these things. 150,000 people took out memberships,” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said. “It's important to us to make sure that everyone is safe, but also that we're encouraging people to try new things and have fun doing it.”
Under proposed changes approved by the committee Wednesday, the next phase of the pilot will see fines of:
- $75 for “doubling” — or, in other words, carrying another passenger on a scooter while driving
- $400 for running into a pedestrian on the sidewalk
- $400 for operating in a reckless manner while riding an e-scooter
Some new fines (in blue box) are also being proposed for scooter users. #yyccc pic.twitter.com/zbaJjnIp8j
In the first year of e-bikes and the first four months of e-scooters, 206,000 riders recorded a total of 918,000 trips. Of those, 750,000 trips were on e-scooters and 168,000 on e-bikes.
But concerns have also been raised around injuries, where people park the scooters and reckless behaviour.
The city said 281 calls were made to 311 to complain about the scooters between July and October, and 33 e-scooter injuries required ambulances in the same time frame.
Those e-scooter rides translated into 250,000 fewer car trips, or roughly 470,000 kilometres.
Maximum speeds
Lui Greco with the CNIB Foundation said he had concerns about how blind individuals such as himself had been affected by e-scooters.
One such instance took place last summer, Greco said, near Eau Claire Market.
“I was walking with another person, taking their arm, what we call sighted guide,” Greco said. “A fellow came right at us and literally was almost going to split the two of us up. It's rare, but it has happened.”
Grego said reckless abandonment of scooters should be added to the bylaw, and scooter companies should be allowed to collect information on where users leave the scooters through their apps.
Coun. Jeff Davidson said the city also wants the scooter companies to drop their maximum speeds in busy areas like Eau Claire and Inglewood.
“Looking at things like, can you geotarget speed limits to ensure that these scooters are going slower in high-volume pedestrian areas,” Davidson said. “I think that's appropriate to look at at this time.”
City council will discuss the changes early in the new year.
“There's some minor recommendations around improving safety for us to go into the second year of our pilot and I think that's a good thing to do,” Nenshi said.
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