E-scooter rental program considered for Mississauga
Published May 3, 2023 at 11:28 am
The City of Mississauga is considering an e-scooter rental program.
This comes after the City of Brampton launched a pilot e-scooter rental program with three different companies at the beginning of April. Brampton hopes the scooters will help cut emissions in the city — but they have already run into some issues with dozens of calls for service in the first week.
Mississauga is looking into a rental program for the city, Mayor Bonnie Crombie told insauga.com publisher Khaled Iwamura in an Instagram interview.
“Certainly, we will be entertaining a pilot project to see how it goes,” Crombie said.
The city is working with an e-scooter company tied to Metrolinx, she added.
But the city has heard from several groups, including the city’s accessibility committee, with concerns about people leaving the scooters on sidewalks.
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In some cities, there are no docking ports and people just leave e-scooters anywhere after they are finished riding them. This makes the sidewalk unsafe and inaccessible for people with mobility issues or people who are visually impaired.
Crombie added that when she was at a conference in Denver last week, she saw e-scooters just left around the city.
“They were littered on the sidewalks — I can see first-hand why people have concerns because they were everywhere,” Crombie added. “That’s not the experience I want in Mississauga, I want them properly docked, parked in docking stations.”
Last May, advocacy groups spoke out against e-scooters use in general as the riders don’t follow the rules and use sidewalks and park paths.
On the other hand, e-scooters provide an economical and low-emission mode of transportation and a way for commuters to get home from transit stops.
“They are very worthwhile, I have seen them successfully introduced in other municipalities,” Crombie said.
Recently some people expressed concerns over an e-scooter rider spotted in the left lane of a busy Mississauga street. People who own an e-scooters can ride it in the city but there are rules. In spring 2021, the City of Mississauga set out rules for e-scooters.
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