The City of Victoria council decided on Thursday that it would be in the municipality’s best interest to allow e-scooters, motorized wheelchairs, e-skateboards, e-bikes and e-balancing hoverboards to legally use the city’s bike lanes.
A report was brought to council Victoria’s Engineering and Public Works Department which says that personal electric mobility devices are becoming increasingly popular methods of transportation that need to be legally recognized.
“Just under 30% of bicycle trips within the Capital Regional District (CRD) are made by e-bikes, despite them accounting for only 10% of the stock of bikes,” reads the report.
The report says that the surge in e-bike usage can be attributed to many factors, including incentives, the rapid expansion of the market and Victoria’s expanding bike lane network.
“Other e-mobility devices, such as e-skateboards, e-balancing boards, e-kick scooters and e-wheelchairs… are also increasing in popularity,” reads the report.
The report predicts that these methods of transportation will only grow in popularity.
Councillor Jeremy Caraadonna remarked that people are already riding these devices and operating in somewhat of a “grey area,” legally speaking.
“No one’s being ticketed, mobility scooters, kick scooters, they’re on the roads already,” Caradonna said.
“There’s no enforcement.”
This initiative lines up with the Province’s Electric Kick Scooter Pilot Project, which launched in 2021 and looks to have municipalities and First Nations to test the use of e-scooters on public roadways.
At the time it launched, the City of Victoria decided not to participate.
“Right now, people are riding electric kick scooters, you can buy them at Costco, you can buy them all across the province, however they’re only technically legal in a very few select cities that have joined the pilot,” said Ross Kenny, Assistant Director of Engineering – Transportation section.
The Province’s program is limited to e-kick scooters, but now the City looks at adopting the pilot and expanding upon it in an effort to make the city more accessible.
This provincial pilot includes specifications for e-scooters including speed limiters, power sources and lights, while the operator will be required by law to wear a helmet, same as cyclists.
The speed limit for the e-scooters on city streets will be 50km/h or lower, according to the report.
The report also says that they don’t anticipate this will cost them any additional money from the budget.
“The City does not anticipate additional resources will be required for participation and enforcement efforts would fall under the purview of Victoria Police’s traffic unit,” reads the report.
“Staff will utilize existing budgets, programs and partnerships to encourage safe, courteous travel among e-kick scooter users and work with the CRD and other municipalities to collect and share available data.”
Council voted unanimously in favour of the initiative and has directed City staff to begin working on making this possible. Sometime before April 5th, the motion will go to council once more for first, second and third readings followed by adoption.
This initiative is to begin on April 5th, 2024 and end on April 5th, 2028.
