E-scooters are back with changes to parking rules in Brampton

It’s better late than never as the city is getting a slow start for the second year of Brampton’s electric scooter program.

Brampton City Council heard an update to its e-scooter pilot on Wednesday with staffers saying there was a delay in the rollout and a missed opportunity for “a great opening potential month.”

The two-year pilot project launched in April last year but is only getting rolling in May this year due to what city staff called “an overabundance of caution” and changes to the program including additional parking regulations.

Data from the city shows there were more than 30,000 e-scooter trips in April when the program first came online, climbing up to more than 40,000 in May.

There are three e-scooter operators in Brampton and Austin Spademan, general manager of Bird Canada, told city council on Wednesday that riders and operators missed out on a month of service and good weather.

All three operators have now been given the green light to begin operating again this year in Brampton with Neuron, Bird and Scooty all saying they would have crews deploying scooters across the city starting on Wednesday.

Some 40 per cent of users reported using the e-scooters primarily to connect with public transit routes, and e-scooter company Neuron said some 6 per cent of its riders reported having a disability or mobility impairment – with many respondents saying they have difficulty walking long distances or for extended periods.

Brampton received 337 scooter-related complaint calls during the first year of the program and found parking compliance among e-scooter users was only around 60 per cent.

For year two, the city is introducing a “hybrid parking model” for e-scooters with designated  parking stalls in areas with high pedestrian traffic, and a free-floating parking model in less congested areas.

The city said 13 per cent of all e-scooter service requests were related to “Litter, Debris, and Obstruction” with 181 requests, and 156 calls related to e-scooter parking. Some users on social media complained about e-scooters parked on their property or left laying across Brampton sidewalks.

Looking ahead to the end of the pilot project, the city says it will take its cues from the province on whether to make e-scooters a permanent fixture in Brampton. Ontario is still in the testing stages of allowing municipalities to regulate e-scooters and many municipalities are just starting their pilot projects this year.

Brampton was the first city in the GTA with an e-scooter program and Mississauga is in the process of launching its own e-bike and e-scooter program.

E-scooters are only allowed on roads in Brampton, are banned from all sidewalks, and are limited to a maximum speed of 20 km/h. The scooters have also been “geo-fenced” to reduce speeds to 15 km/h when operating in parks, high-pedestrian areas, and paths.

Last year, e-scooter rentals had an activation fee and users were charged by the minute with the three providers using similar rates for rides. Scooty charged $1.15 to unlock a scooter and 0.40 cents per minute; Neuron charged $1.15 to unlock the scooters and another 0.35 cents per minute; while Bird charged around $1.35 to activate and 0.20 cents per minute.