Electric scooters will be coming to Montreal in the near future.
The concept is similar to BIXI.
Riders can rent the scooters and e-bikes using a smartphone, and they come equipped with GPS.
Scooters are present in several North American cities, but it hasn’t always been a smooth ride.
Other cities with the scooters and e-bikes have seen increases in accidents involving both riders and pedestrians.
City councillor Craig Sauve says that provincial government involvement will help as Montreal introduces the vehicles.
“The Quebec government will open it up to the road security rules,” he said. “In Montreal, we’re trying to take a proactive approach.”
Montreal has studied other cities with the scooters and e-bikes and will adopt their best policies.
There are also questions about where riders will be allowed to use them.
“We definitely don’t want them on sidewalks,” Sauve said. “We don’t want to have conflicts with pedestrians. The idea is that they’ll be treated like a bike. They’ll be allowed on bike paths and roads.”
There is also the question of parking.
“If we have several hundred scooters arrive in Montreal, we just don’t want them strewn about anywhere,” he said. “We want them to be parked in an orderly fashion.”
The city is currently drafting a bylaw that will address those questions.
