Despite surge in popularity, private e-scooters still banned on Edmonton streets

Privately-owned electric scooters may be common on city streets but they are still illegal to be used on public property in Alberta — and municipalities are hoping to change that this fall. 

Companies like Lime and Bird are allowed to rent e-scooters in Calgary and Edmonton under an exemption to the provincial Traffic Safety Act, to support cities' active transportation programs.

The exemption doesn't extend to private e-scooters or the use of other electric micromobility options.  

Coun. Andrew Knack wants the province to amend the legislation to sanction all e-scooters.

"We can pretend it's not happening or, you know, we can recognize that these options are becoming more popular and people are already doing it," Knack said in an interview last week. 

Municipalities are investing in infrastructure to facilitate and promote alternative forms of transportation, so he argues that it's time to adjust the laws.

"I don't see why we wouldn't just formally make that change because these scooters are becoming just one more way to get around the city that you live in."

Calgary city council plans to propose a resolution at the Alberta Municipalities convention in September asking the province to amend the Traffic Safety Act to regulate private scooter use. 

Edmonton city council will support the resolution, Knack said. 

Sanctioning private e-scooters may be a formality, but Knack said it's better to update laws than have people break them. 

"I can't be telling people, 'Oh yeah, just go ahead and buy your own e-scooter and use it because nobody cares anyways.' That's not really responsible of me as an elected representative."

Shop gets savvy

It's a lesson cycling shops have learned over the past year, as more customers started buying e-scooters and inquiring about the rules. 

Kelly Hodgson, marketing and operations manager for United Sports and Cycle on Gateway Boulevard in Edmonton, said the shop scaled back its inventory of e-scooters this year. 

He said customers were becoming more reluctant to buy them after shop staff explained e-scooters were restricted to private property only.  

"So I can use it on my driveway. That's great. I'll go from the top of the driveway to the bottom of the driveway," Hodgson said in an interview.

This year, he said they ordered fewer than 50 e-scooters, which they sold already, compared to 200 to 300 the year before. 

They had produced promotional videos for social media and their website, showing people riding around the river valley, White Avenue and the legislature on private scooters. 

"A lot of the content we were producing and putting out there was actually violating the bylaw, so we had to bring that content down," Hodgson said. 

Amendments possible

The Alberta government's Transportation and Economic Corridors ministry grants exemptions to ride-sharing companies under a pilot project. 

Jesse Furber, press secretary for Minister Devin Dreeshen, said the province continues to work with municipalities to "identify future options for the deployment of e-scooters, which may include the use of privately owned e-scooters."

In an email to CBC News last week, Furber said the province will analyze the data collected from the pilot to shape future legislation around the operation of e-scooters in Alberta.

If the province amends the Traffic Safety Act, the City of Edmonton would need to determine whether it needs to amend its traffic bylaw as well, Jenny Albers, acting director of traffic operations, said in an email last week. 

The city doesn't have an estimate of how many privately-owned e-scooters there are in Edmonton, she added.   

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The rules are clear on the city's website.

For e-scooters, riders must be aged 18 or older. A child cannot be a passenger. Only one rider should be on a scooter and there's no riding on sidewalks.

Although people commonly violate these rules, city bylaw officers didn't give out any tickets last year. They have not given out any so far this year, and in 2021 issued only 14.

Private e-bikes are covered under the same provincial standards as bicycles so they can be used on city property.