The e-Scooter program is causing some concerns for motorists and pedestrians in Calgary on Monday, July 29, 2019.Darren Makowichuk / Calgary Herald As the e-scooter craze continues to grip the world, Calgarians have proven they are not immune to the novelty, racking up 300,000 rides since the 16-month pilot project started mid-July.The City of Edmonton, whose own year-long pilot project started last Friday, doesnt have the total number of rides so far but like in Calgary, Lime and Bird are the only two e-scooter vendors.The regulations in each city, however, are vastly different in one specific way: Calgary riders are allowed on sidewalks but prohibited on roads, whereas Edmonton riders are allowed on roads but prohibited on sidewalks.Neither city requires riders to wear helmets when operating the e-scooters and both are allowed in bike lanes. Both cities have capped the scooters speed at 20 km/h.There are currently 1,000 Lime scooters and 500 Bird scooters in Calgary and 200 Lime and 400 Bird scooters in Edmonton.Alberta Health Services said there have been no reported injuries from e-scooters in Edmonton since they were introduced on August 16 and 17. Calgary has seen 200 e-scooter related injuries since their introduction.Nathan Carswell, Calgarys shared mobility program manager, said there have been 185 calls made to the 311 line, and about 70 per cent of them are negative.Allowing sidewalk riding is probably our top complaint, he said. In saying that, its usually people who feel like a scooter sped by them without alerting them and then it evens out below that from people concerned about the speed to improperly parked scooters and general feedback. A Lime e-scooter rider commutes on Riverwalk in Calgary on Monday, July 29, 2019. Azin Ghaffari / Postmedia A spokesman for the City of Edmonton said its decision to allow scooters on roadways with a maximum speed limit of 50 km/h followed a review of collision data and e-scooter projects in other cities.They ensure people with scooters could still have easy access around Edmonton, the province of Alberta mandated e-scooters could be on roads provided they had a headlamp, tail lamp, a rear reflector, a working handbrake and a kickstand, a spokesman said, adding 80 to 90 per cent of Edmontons roads have a speed limit up to 50 km/h.The City of Calgary worked with existing bylaws to expedite the scooter rollout process, Carswell said, whereas Edmonton took its time to create the bylaws that will govern e-scooter use in that city.Im not trying to say one is doing it right and the other is not, I think thats the beauty of having these controlled pilots is that each citys approaching it how they feel most comfortable, he said. We can look at whats worked in Edmonton and Calgary and whats not and work with the province in the long run to regulate and ensure these devices are considered as part of a new transportation option and done the right way.When the snow flies in Calgary, or sometime around the first of November, both companies will be taking the scooters to their local warehouses until weather improves in the spring to bring them back.Carswell said its during this off-season that the city will look at how the project is going, whats working and what could be improved.The purpose of the pilot is to make some tweaks and monitor the project well look at what people are saying, what kind of ability do we have with the companies to curb this a little better, he said. Once we have a better data set and understanding, we can see what the trend
Origin: Should e-scooters stay on roads or sidewalks? Calgary, Edmonton pick opposite sides