With extra electrical scooters and e-bikes travelling Montreal’s bike paths, some cyclists and pedestrians within the metropolis are worried for his or her security.
“It’s a little bit scary,” mentioned Mariana Diez, a Montrealer who usually goes out for walks pushing her child on a stroller.
“They pass by really fast and sometimes it’s not only one, there are two of them or three…. You feel that someone is going to run into you at some point.”
In Quebec, bicycles and kick scooters are allowed on bike paths. Electric bicycles are additionally allowed so long as they’ve a most energy of 500 watts and do not go over 32 kilometre per hour, based on Transports Québec spokesperson Louis-André Bertrand.
“It’s a question of safety,” he mentioned. Bertrand additionally mentioned the foundations are clear and it is as much as native police to implement them.
Shadab Vhora, a supply driver, makes use of his electrical scooter for work and admits he generally hops onto a bike path, though he does not assume it is proper.
“Sometimes I see kids on the bike path, and it’s not safe for kids to be on the bike path when there’s fast-driven vehicles there,” he mentioned. “I do sometimes when I have to, I wouldn’t lie about it, but I usually don’t prefer that.”
Since 2018, the Quebec car insurance coverage board — identified by its acronym, the SAAQ — has been overseeing a pilot mission to consider how electrical scooters will be higher built-in into the province’s roadways. The mission, initially slated to finish within the fall of 2021, has been prolonged till September of subsequent 12 months.
Jean-François Papineau, who owns Mecamoto/Vespa Montreal, mentioned increasingly individuals are coming to his retailer to purchase electrical autos, with enterprise almost doubling within the final three years. He mentioned many purchasers are asking him if they’ll trip their new toy on a bike path.
“They ask us if they can drive it over there but it has a plate, you need to have a helmet, so it’s a street vehicle,” Papineau mentioned.