“Summers are excellent in Edmonton and getting around outside. Using active transportation is not only good for our minds and our bodies, it’s good for the environment”
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Streetside rental e-scooters and now e-bikes have began rolling out in Edmonton, however complaints from residents final yr imply fewer will likely be on the roads this summer time.
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The metropolis introduced Friday it landed on two distributors to supply a cumulative whole of as much as 1,500 e-scooters and 400 e-bikes till the top of 2023, considerably decrease than the 4,000 e-scooters ordered by distributors early final yr. Bird started placing out its fleet on Friday and Lime arrives subsequent week.
Spin, which rented out e-scooters final yr, won’t return.
Jessica Lamarre, director of secure mobility and visitors operations, mentioned utilizing a aggressive bid to decide on simply two corporations is behind the delay. Last yr leases have been obtainable by late March.
The metropolis experimented with permitting the market to find out what number of to supply, however they landed on a smaller fleet dimension factoring in complaints and what number of can be found in different related Canadian cities, Lamarre mentioned.
“We had lots of complaints from Edmontonians about the clutter of the number of vehicles moving around, and about the way that they were used and so we started to reduce that fleet size,” Lamarre instructed reporters on Friday.
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She acknowledged scooters are out a bit later than town would have preferred, however Lamarre mentioned she’s excited they’re again now. They create an alternate mode of transportation and cut back visitors congestion, she mentioned.
“Summers are excellent in Edmonton and … using active transportation is not only good for our minds and our bodies, it’s good for the environment,” she mentioned.
“It activates our streets in an entirely different way. So they’re fun, for sure, to get around, but they’re also an option to help connect people, for people who are trying to get around.”
E-scooters and e-bikes usually are not allowed on sidewalks in Edmonton. Riders can use them on bike lanes, shared-use pathways, and on roads with as much as a 50 km/hr velocity restrict.
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‘Since the horse and carriage’
Coun. Michael Janz, who attended the announcement, known as himself an e-bike fanatic. He’s excited Edmontonians get an opportunity to strive one other climate-friendly manner of getting round earlier than, maybe, shopping for one themselves.
“This is going to be a transformation in transportation that hasn’t happened since the horse and carriage. You can bike across the river valley on an electric bike with pedal assist, get up and down both sides of the hill and not even break a sweat. It’s going to be so convenient,” he mentioned.
“There’s always going to be growing pains with this small program, but what this is going to mean to the future of transportation in our city — it’s going to be a game-changer.”
‘These are not toys’: helmet really useful
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Helmets aren’t necessary however the metropolis recommends individuals put on them — as does Edmonton emergency room physician Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti.
Last summer time, Francescutti noticed a minimum of one individual per week injured whereas driving an e-scooter — which he compares to a bike, however just a little slower.
“These are not toys,” Francescutti mentioned, including that individuals who journey ought to get acquainted with them and use warning. “They go quick, and when you fall, you can really hurt yourself.”
From minor scrapes and bruises, all the best way to damaged bones and dangerous concussions, velocity is often an element within the accidents he’s seen on the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Often, Francescutti sees younger males ending up within the ER after crashing an e-scooter whereas driving with a gaggle of buddies.
“What ends up happening — peer pressure. They start racing them and they don’t mix well with traffic either,” he mentioned.
“At bare minimum, have a helmet on when you’re using them — and good luck.”
Data from police collision reviews in 2021 exhibits eight e-scooter crashes that resulted in three minor and three main accidents in 2021, and two incidents of property harm. More analysis is being accomplished by town, Alberta Health Services, and the University of Alberta, to know the total extent of most of these accidents.
lboothby@postmedia.com