The Canadian city of Vancouver is considering self-service electric scooter sharing in order to encourage more non-car journeys. It's one of a slew of measures the city is investigating as part of its climate emergency action plan approved by the city in 2020.
The city of Vancouver, Canada, is considering a pilot project of shared electric scooters to reduce the number of cars on the road and thus significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the city.
The municipality has noted in recent months that the number of public transport users is increasing, but that it is still lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic. And with this in mind, the idea is to offer more alternatives to cars. Like many other large cities, Vancouver could make use of a shared soft mobility solution, in this case the implementation of a self-service electric scooter service.
The city authorized the use of electric scooters on bike paths and in certain dedicated spaces back in 2021. But this was only applied to private use. Now, there's a motion to extend this practice to a vast sharing service, in order to reach a larger public of individuals who don't necessarily want to purchase such a machine, but who would be interested in using it from time to time.
"Now is the time for politicians to act on getting people out of their cars," wrote Sarah Kirby-Yung, the Vancouver city councillor initiating the project, in an opinion piece published by Daily Hive Urbanized.
Such a decision would have an immediate impact on safety. Operators of scooter sharing services can set a maximum speed and even automatically reduce it when scooters approach certain sensitive areas, such as near schools, to improve safety. In addition, thanks to geo-fencing, they can also prevent their scooters from being ridden on sidewalks and thus endangering pedestrians and people with reduced mobility.
In the view of Sarah Kirby-Yung, it's particularly vital as "37% of Vancouver's carbon pollution comes from burning gasoline and diesel in our vehicles." This micro-mobility solution would thus offer an alternative to short car trips while also helping to fight against traffic congestion and reduce air and noise pollution.
Although Vancouver may appear to be a latecomer when it comes to electric scooter sharing, compared to other large cities including some in Canada, the city has already been working on a variety of measures to fight against CO2 emissions and climate change. In recent months, a decision was made to encourage the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles. By January 2025, all gas stations and commercial parking lots will be required to have a dedicated infrastructure.
The city will also implement strict regulations intended to reduce CO2 emissions in the production of building materials. It also intends to prioritize electric installations over gas in new and existing buildings, facilitate energy retrofits, cap emissions from the largest existing commercial buildings, and provide assistance to homeowners to receive energy coaching and rebates for installing heat pumps.
