Residents and visitors could be zipping around Port Moody on shared e-bikes and e-scooters as soon as this summer.
But they won’t be able to go faster than 25 km/h and they’ll have to park the devices in designated stations.
Tuesday, Feb. 18, council’s strategic priorities committee unanimously agreed to have staff begin the process of finding an operator for an e-bike and e-scooter share program for at least the next two years, with an option to extend it through a third year. The program would place about 150 of the micromobility devices around the city in the first six months, expanding to 250 by the end of the first year.
In a presentation, Port Moody’s senior sustainability and energy coordinator, Christopher Brown, said e-bike and e-scooter sharing would be a key component of the city’s zero emissions mobility strategy as well as support its target of achieving 40 per cent of trips being taken by walking, cycling or transit by 2030.
Brown said the operator would be responsible for maintaining and insuring the fleet of e-bikes and e-scooters, redistribute them around the city, as well as manage the mobile app and ensure compliance with safety regulations.
Those rules include a maximum speed of 25 km/h but slowing to 15 km/h in designated zones where riders are likely to encounter more congestion of pedestrians or cyclists. There will also be areas where the devices won’t be allowed to operate, like inside Rocky Point Park.
Brown said staff examined several parking options implemented in other communities, from the use of bluetooth beacons to create virtual parking areas, marked parking plots and permanent docking stations to riders being able to leave the devices anywhere.
The latter option caused consternation among several councillors who expressed concerns about e-bikes and e-scooters littering Port Moody’s sidewalks and paths willy-nilly, creating hazards and inconvenience for other users.
“I do not like the free-floating idea,” said Coun. Kyla Knowles. “It’s just awful for people in wheelchairs who do need our sidewalks and paths.”
Coun. Diana Dilworth said a previous sharing program of pedal bikes that operated in Port Moody briefly beginning in 2018 resulted in many of the devices being left scattered around the city where they eventually had to be retrieved by works crews.
But, Brown said, sharing programs for micromobilitiy devices have evolved since then and operators are much more sophisticated and attentive to issues like maintaining and distributing their fleets.
“This is a better program,” he said.
As well, the operator would have to put up a $10,000 rolling security deposit against which Port Moody could assess charges if it has to retrieve improperly parked devices. The city would also collect a $50 fee annually for each e-bike and e-scooter as well as a possible small charge for each trip.
Brown said the goal would be to ensure the e-bike and e-sharing program doesn’t end up costing the city any money.
“This isn’t a money-making project,” he said. “It’s sort of revenue-neutral.”
Mayor Meghan Lahti, who successfully proposed an amendment that parking stations be no further than 500 metres apart, said she’s become so enamoured with the ease and convenience of e-scooter sharing programs during her travels she bought one of the devices for herself. She said they’re the perfect solution to help residents using transit to complete their journeys from the bus stop or SkyTrain station to home or just to get around town quickly and efficiently. But, she added, they’d be even better if they could cross into neighbouring communities as well.
That would be desirable if the city is able to contract a provider that already operates in another community, like Coquitlam, said Brown, although that could be complicated by that city’s different parking rules that allow the devices to be left anywhere in some parts. Rather, he suggested, it would be ideal for Port Moody to reach agreements with neighbours like Anmore and Belcarra to allow e-bikes and e-scooters to make trips to their regional parks.
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