Two e-scooter companies are returning to Kelowna streets this month.
Lime is back Friday (Jan. 21) and Roll returns with its fleet Friday, Jan. 28.
“We temporarily removed our fleet during the Christmas season to make it easier for city staff to remove the snow from roads and sidewalks,” says Arda Ertürk, CCO Roll Technologies. “We can’t wait to serve the residents of Kelowna again.”
Jacob Tugendrajch, Lime public affairs director for North America is equally excited.
“We’re excited to launch again in Kelowna this weekend and we’re sure our riders are too. We had a great first season last year and learned a lot about what it takes to make micromobility a safe and successful part of the transportation network here. We look forward to applying those lessons to making our e-scooter program even better this time around.”
Year two of the province’s three-year e-scooter pilot project starts Apr. 20. Permit applications have to be submitted to the city by Feb. 7, and operating permits will be issued to two companies on Mar. 7. This permit season will run from Apr. 2022 to Apr. 2024.
“For the upcoming permit season we will be limiting it to two permits,” says Cameron Noonan, transportation planner with the City of Kelowna. “That will take us to the end of the three-pilot which the Ministry of Transportation granted us. It will be up to the province ultimately to decide whether to keep it. I’m sure they’ll be looking to us to provide feedback on how it worked in our community.”
There were problems in the first year of the program with reckless riders. Some users did not wear helmets, contrary to provincial laws, and others sped along sidewalks in violation of city bylaws. Last year dozens of riders suffered injuries from improper use of the scooters and collisions with vehicles.
Read More: Kelowna General Hospital clinicians observe increase in e-scooter injuries
The city, Lime, and Roll have all stepped up safety awareness targeting riders.
“There is the overnight ban on riding scooters in the downtown, from 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m.,” says Noonan. “We’ve implemented low speeds zones in a number of different areas, particularly along Bernard Ave. and Water St., that’s 24-hours a day. We have banned e-scooters from the waterfront. For the upcoming permit season, one of the major changes we’ve made is that we will require companies to provide a helmet attached to every vehicle.”
Ertürk is on board with anything that leads to better safety for riders and pedestrians.
“We’ve seen a lot of improvements,” he adds. “We have seen improvements in rider behaviour as well after these adjustments, and we hope to keep that improvement going and hope riders will be complying as we move on to a more permanent phase.”
In addition to current safety measures, Noonan says technology also plays a part in making sure scooter users follow the rules.
“One of the other things we’ve put in place, currently in operation, is sidewalk detection,” he says. “So the companies are using a combination of vibration sensors in the scooters as well as GPS to detect when people are riding on the sidewalk. If companies detect that people are spending a significant amount of their trip on the sidewalk, they can alert that user and remind them that these scooters are meant to be used on the road and escalate to fines or suspension of accounts if it continues.”
Information on e-scooters and riding safely can be found on the City of Kelowna, Lime and Roll websites.
Read More: Improper e-scooter parking causing accessibility issues in Kelowna
Read More: Helmet selfies and sober pledges: Changes coming after rough e-scooter rollout in Kelowna
@GaryBarnes109
gary.barnes@kelownacapnews.com
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