E-scooters: Silent menace or green godsend?

Ostensibly, electric scooters have been banned in Toronto since 2021, when city council voted not to allow them in public places over safety and accessibility concerns.

However, enforcement is low. The city acknowledges it doesn’t have the resources to police e-scooter use, and riders can be spotted buzzing along roads and bike lanes any day of the week.

Toronto’s policy is at odds with other Ontario cities that are embracing e-scooters as active transportation to cut down on car trips and the pollution they create.

In January 2021, the government of Ontario launched a five-year e-scooter pilot program that allows municipalities to regulate the use of e-scooters and choose where and how they may be used.

This year, on April 6, Brampton launched its first e-scooter pilot program in partnership with rental companies Neuron Mobility, Bird Canada and SCOOTY, making up to 750 e-scooters available for public use across Brampton.

According to the rules set by the province, e-scooters allowed under the pilot must have:

• A maximum speed of 24 km/h on a level surface.
• A maximum weight of 45 kilograms.
• A maximum power output of 500 watts.
• Two wheels, brakes and a horn or bell.
• At least one white light on the front, one red light on the rear and reflective material on the sides.
• Maximum wheel diameter of 17 inches.

To operate an e-scooter, you must be at least 16 years old, stand at all times while riding and wear a helmet if you are under 18.

E-scooter operators are not permitted to carry passengers or cargo or take an e-scooter on controlled-access highways, like the 400-series highways.

“This is fantastic,” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said while riding a scooter in a video posted on his Twitter account. “This is another opportunity for Brampton residents to enjoy the outdoors and fresh air with the e-scooter pilot project, the first in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). We have seen this in other cities in Canada, but nothing in the GTA. It is just another option for residents to enjoy active transportation in our city.”

In a statement posted on the city’s website, Brown said offering accessible and active transportation options is a priority for Brampton, and this pilot program is just one way it is doing that.

The scooters seem popular with at least some early adopters. “I have been using the scooters for a couple days now. I am just out enjoying the e-scooter, and it has been fun,” said Michael Dalton, a resident of Oshawa, which also just launched an e-scooter program.

“There is some inconvenience to this (e-scooter), like the hour-and-half limit per day, and 35 cents a minute is a little expensive. But they have been great for getting around the city. I think it is a lot better than gasoline.”

Dalton acknowledged there are environmental problems associated with batteries that require mining cobalt and lithium. “But I think it is a step forward to have e-scooters in the city,” he said.

Oshawa’s first e-scooter program launched last week, also with Neuron and Bird Canada, as part of the province’s pilot.

“E-scooters and e-bikes are part of the growing ‘micro-mobility’ sector that increases transportation options for community members and visitors to explore our city and are normally used for shorter trips,” a statement on the city’s website reads.

Daniel Breton, president and CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, believes using e-scooters benefits the environment and is part of the solution to reach Canada’s net-zero emissions goal.

“To me, absolutely, there is no question that smart micro-mobility is part of the solution (to) significantly (reduce) our environmental footprint and our air pollution,” he said. “To think just transit or just electric cars will do the trick, I am sorry, it won't.”

Since December 2020, Mississauga has also allowed personal e-scooters on public roadways with a posted speed limit of up to 50 km/h, but shared e-scooters and rentals are not permitted.

Irene McCutcheon, senior communications adviser with the City of Mississauga, told Canada’s National Observer that city staff have been monitoring feedback and complaints related to e-scooters through an online forum and 311. The city is also working with Peel Public Health to monitor public health data related to e-scooter use.

“Complaints are rare; inquiries and questions are generally for clarification of existing rules. Five inquiries have been received since 2022 and fewer than 50 questions per year through an online Q&A platform,” McCutcheon said.

E-scooters come with safety features such as voice assistance, an acoustic vehicle-alerting system, the ability to call 911 and controlled geofencing, which prevents e-scooters from travelling outside a designated area.

Some of the loudest opponents of e-scooters are advocates who say people with disabilities are endangered by electric scooters racing silently at high speeds on Ontario sidewalks, roads and park paths. They are urging other cities to follow Toronto’s lead and ban e-scooters.

“Bans on sidewalk riding of e-scooters are not good enough. A silent menace. E-scooters appearing out of nowhere. Uninsured, unlicensed, untrained, unhelmeted joy-riders, racing at 20 (km/h), endanger the safety of innocent pedestrians, especially people who can't see them coming or quickly dodge them,” said David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance (AODA), a disability consumer advocacy group. “Left strewn on sidewalks, e-scooters have been tripping hazards for blind people and an accessibility nightmare for wheelchair users.”

Lepofsky says Toronto is failing to enforce its ban, and other municipalities adopting e-scooters are ignoring the risks to people with disabilities.

“We don’t want to have to suffer the dangers to our safety and the barriers to our accessibility that e-scooters create,” Lepofsky said.

“Hamilton, Ottawa and Mississauga wrongly disregarded these dangers by allowing e-scooters after their city staff marginalized disability concerns, despite ample supporting data.”

Canada's National Observer contacted the Toronto Police Service for comment, but the department did not respond in time for publication.

Breton, Electric Mobility Canada’s president and CEO, believes it is a mistake to ban e-scooters over safety concerns.

“The safety reason, I find it quite weak, to tell you the truth,” said Breton. “Regulations should be stringent to make sure that people use them in a responsible manner. We have to have a clear understanding of what can be done and what cannot be done, but once those rules are established and people know about the rules, I think it is certainly part of the solution.”

Neuron, one of the largest e-scooter rental companies in Canada, told Canada’s National Observer it is working closely with cities to extend the micro-mobility opportunity to their communities.

“Micromobility presents a unique and valuable opportunity to improve quality of life and the livability of cities through green and active transportation options,” said Jacqueline Demers, communication manager for Neuron. “Since launching in 2021, Neuron riders have travelled nearly 3.5 million kilometres. Nearly half of all e-scooter trips in Canada replace the use of a vehicle (e.g., taxi, Uber or personal vehicle). Not only have Neuron programs had a positive environmental impact, but they have also been good for the local economy, with each e-scooter providing $11,300 in local economic spending.”

But Lepofsky, chair of AODA, said the claim that e-scooters are good for the environment is bogus.

“They largely are ridden by people who otherwise would walk or take transit. They do not reduce traffic. Their supposed low cost is in part because, endangering the public, e-scooters need not meet any safety standards, and e-scooter riders need not carry insurance,” he said.

“Safety and accessibility for vulnerable people with disabilities and seniors should not be sacrificed based on false claims of environmental benefit and driven by the search for profit by e-scooter corporate lobbyists.”

This story was produced in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights for the Afghan Journalists-in-Residence program funded by the Meta Journalism Project.