Electric scooters could soon be allowed in Port Moody.
A staff memo to be presented to the city’s transportation committee when it meets today, March 20, recommends Port Moody join 13 other cities in British Columbia participating in a provincial pilot project to determine the safety and functionality of personal and shared e-scooters.
The pilot project was originally scheduled to end next month but has been extended through 2028.
The memo by Port Moody’s transportation engineer, Nobinur Rahman, said the e-scooter program aligns with the city’s climate action goals. He said the devices provide an alternative and zero-emission transportation option “benefiting residents, workers, visitor and encourages transit use by offering a solution for the first and last mile of their trip.”
Port Moody had an opportunity to participate in the pilot program from its inception in 2021 but council declined, citing a lack of staff resources to put together a proposal to administer and monitor the e-scooters as well as concerns shared devices would be left laying about, littering trails and waterways.
Coquitlam joined the pilot program in 2023 and last summer two operators — Neuron and Lime — placed hundreds of sharing e-scooters in parts of the city with staff to monitor their use, clean and recharge them as well as return stray vehicles to designated parking areas.
“We know all the time what the rider is doing with the vehicle and where it is,” Neuron’s marketing head, Ankush Karwal, said at the time.
Users pay an initial unlock fee and are then charged for every minute they’re using the e-scooter. Passes that allow up to 90 minutes of riding a day are also available.
In his memo, Rahman said preliminary results from participating communities suggest the e-scooters encourage active, eco-friendly transportation and lead to further exploration of e-bike and bike-sharing services. They’ve also found injuries and conflicts with other road users are rare, provided users follow the rules.
Those rules include:
- operating the e-scooters only on designated roads, cycling lanes and off-street pathways, but not on sidewalks
- e-scooters can’t exceed 24 kmh and they must be equipped with a bell or horn
- users must be at least 16 years old, wear a helmet and they can’t carry passengers
The rules can be enforced by police under the Motor Vehicles Act and violators face penalties up to $2,000.
— with a file from Janis Cleugh, Tri-City News
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