Electric scooter service Bird eyes Toronto market

Thestar.com
January 7, 2019
David Rider

The electric scooter craze that has commuters zipping around U.S. cities has not yet landed in Toronto but Bird -- one of the biggest e-scooter firms -- is about to.

The Santa Monica-based company is deploying a local lobbyist to talk to multiple city councillors, city transportation staff and an official in Mayor John Tory’s office.

Last fall more than 6,000 people rolled more than 19,000 kilometres on Lime electric scooters as part of a Waterloo pilot project.

“Bird is seeking to partner with the City of Toronto to establish a harmonious and sustainable transportation network that involves last-mile electric scooter sharing,” the company says in a lobbyist registration.

But don’t expect to see the “micro-transit” vehicles -- heavy-duty self-propelled versions of kids’ Razr scooters, unlocked with an app -- on local sidewalks or bike lanes in the immediate future.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to work with cities and municipalities, to help make them healthier and safer, and we think providing other mobility options is one of the ways to do that,” Mackenzie Long, a spokesperson for Bird, said in an interview.

“But we have nothing to share right now in terms of expansion plans.”

Bird is following the lobbying footsteps of Lime, a San Francisco-based rival in the booming business of dropping e-scooters on city streets -- sometimes with prior city permission, sometimes not -- and charging commuters per minute on typically short trips between downtown points.

Citylab blog dubbed 2018 the “Year of the Scooter,” saying the devices “swiftly and silently inserted themselves into the American cityscape.” Questions remain, though, over safety and their long-term use filling gaps -- from transit station to workplace, for example -- in city transportation networks.

Lime lobbied Toronto officials last year but then pitched Waterloo city council on a pilot project that started last fall and, after a winter break, will resume from April to September.

Between Oct. 2 and Nov. 30, more than 6,000 people rolled more than 19,000 kilometres through the Laurel Trail between Waterloo Park Promenade and the David Johnston Research and Technology Park. If riders on any of the 100 scooters wander outside the test area, “geofencing” technology is supposed to slow top speed from 23 km/h to a walking pace.

Waterloo officials are analyzing user data, for a report to go to their council in August, but so far the scooters -- $1 to unlock and 30 cents a minute -- appear to be a valued transportation option, said Ryan Mounsey, a city senior economic development adviser.

“I think there’s tremendous potential for this and it definitely fills a gap for sure in short rides,” Mounsey said. “I’ve used it and I would certainly use it between meetings within downtown, or going from A to B with a transit stop or station to a meeting room.

“One of the big questions is how these work on public roads -- that’s still to be tested. They’re illegal on public roadways right now so part of our investigation is ‘Do they have a place on roadways, is there a system to evaluate them, whether in Waterloo, or somewhere else in Ontario or Canada?’ That’s the big question -- how do these work along with bikes and cars?”

Juan Matute, deputy director of UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies, said e-scooters can fill needs for short trips and “mixed-mode travel tours” -- a niche traditionally filled by taxis and ridehail services such as Uber.

The fact that user responsibility for the scooter ends with the trip gives people flexibility, he said, but carries the risk they won’t park it properly as they would their own scooter or bike.

“Proper enforcement and norm-setting is necessary in the first months of e-scooters introduction to the city to ensure that they don’t negatively impact the safety of vulnerable street users, especially pedestrians,” Matute said.

Some U.S. cities including El Segundo, a Los Angeles beachside suburb, were forced in 2018 to deal with an influx of scooters, including both Lime and Bird ones, before local leaders set any rules.

Last August, after hearing from scooter companies invited to submit plans to manage legal liability and more, El Segundo council voted to ban the scooter services until further notice.

“Some people liked them for trips but you also saw kids just burning around on them,” said Dan Turner, who runs the El Segundo Observer website. “The scooters were everywhere and now they’re just gone.”

While Bird and Lime seem intent on entering the Canadian market with the blessing of local officials, they have a growing number of competitors including JUMP, owned by ride-hailing titan Uber.

Toronto transportation staff, who will report to council this winter on dockless bike-share systems, say they are monitoring the Waterloo scooter pilot project.

Ontario’s Transportation Ministry said e-scooters are not permitted on public roads “as they do not meet any federal or provincial safety standards for on-road use.” Municipalities decide which vehicles can go on their sidewalks and bike paths.

The ministry said in a statement Ontario is interested in new vehicles and technology but safety is the top consideration in deciding if electric scooters should be allowed on roads. “The ministry is exploring the feasibility of how these vehicles can be integrated,” the statement said.

Toronto City Councillor Mike Layton, a fan of bike-sharing, says the city should not pull the plug on electric scooter services without studying their pros and cons.

But he wants to know where scooters sit while not in use. Waterloo has designated scooter parking areas for its pilot project, with Lime responsible for retrieving GPS-enabled stragglers. But the test area is relatively small with a limited number of scooters.

Downtown Toronto sidewalks are already often packed with people, patios and more, Layton said.

“I think the big issue is where the hell are you going to put these things, where are they going to be stored?”