First E-Scooter Program in Greater Toronto Area Launches in Brampton

The Greater Toronto Area city of Brampton has begun an e-scooter programme, making it the first of its type in the area. Residents can hire electric kick scooters through the scheme, which started on April 3, from three authorised vendors: Neuron Mobility, Bird Canada, and Scooty Mobility. Each service provider has access to a fleet of 250–500 electric scooters. An activation fee and per-minute expenses are associated with renting using a smartphone app. Day-use packages are additionally offered. The maximum speed for e-scooters is 20 km/h, and they are allowed on roadways but not on sidewalks. Additionally, they are geofenced to set speed limits in specific locations like parks, high-pedestrian regions, and walkways.

Neuron has introduced the ScootSafe Academy programme, which instructs users on safety precautions such as how to ride and where to park, in order to ensure that users of the e-scooters do so in a safe manner. Riders can accrue credits through the programme for upcoming rides. Due to the substantial number of first-time riders in Brampton, the programme was developed.

E-scooters are treated similarly to bicycles in terms of operation on the road right-of-way after the city approved adjustments to the rules to allow their use on the city’s roads. E-scooters, in the opinion of Bird Canada, might contribute to fewer citywide car journeys and give locals additional options for getting around.

Similar initiatives in other places have demonstrated that every 2.5 e-scooter trips, one car trip is replaced. For instance, in Calgary, over two million e-scooter journeys have been logged, with over 200,000 unique users. In Ottawa, 4 to 6% of inhabitants reported using e-scooters instead of autos.

Prabhnoor Kaur