E-scooter ‘safety’ and ‘etiquette’ need to improve in Mississauga: city

As Mississauga gets closer to launching the second season of its e-scooter and e-bike daily rental program, city officials hope more people get the message on safety, rules and etiquette this year.

The electric micromobility devices haven’t been reintroduced as quickly as hoped in Mississauga as city officials try to clean up several problems before putting them fully back in play for a follow-up season of daily rentals.

City of Mississauga councillors and other officials initially hoped the 900 electric scooters and 300 electric bikes would again be available for public rental in April as Mississauga kicks off year two of its e-scooter and e-bike program.

However, city officials have delayed the program’s year two launch until a number of concerns — chief among them where the devices can and must be parked — can be addressed.

Only a limited number of e-bikes continues to be available for rent, as they were throughout the winter. The remainder of the bikes and all e-scooters remain shelved until later this spring.

In the meantime, the city is hosting a webinar next week aimed particularly at e-scooter safety and other concerns.

“Own an e-scooter or planning to buy one? Not sure where you can ride an e-scooter in Mississauga? Join our webinar to learn more about e-scooter safety, rules and etiquette,” the city said this week in a post to social media.

The webinar is being held on Wednesday, May 14 starting at 6:30 p.m. Those interested in participating must register for the webinar.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish suggested last month if issues that have plagued Mississauga’s electric scooter and electric bike program since its launch last summer aren’t fixed this year, she’s prepared to vote to scrap the whole thing in 2026.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish says it’s crucial Mississauga iron out problems this year related to its e-scooter and e-bike program.

Her declaration came April 9 as councillors and senior city staff discussed ways to improve the shared micromobility initiative as it enters its second year.

Sidewalk riding and issues related to parking the e-scooters and e-bikes were chief among complaints during the program’s first year — complaints from residents, councillors and the mayor of Canada’s seventh-largest city.

Last December, Parrish said publicly she wanted to scrap the city’s first shared micro-mobility program, which launched last June 21.

In a scathing rebuke at that time, she described the program’s inaugural season as “chaotic, ugly” and resembling “some crazy experiment” that’s not working.

Upon its summer 2024 launch, the program made as many as 300 electric pedal-assist bicycles (e-bikes) and 900 electric kick-style scooters (e-scooters) available for people to rent and use at various places including parks, the downtown core and other neighbourhoods throughout the city.

The scooter/bike initiative encountered some major growing pains as detailed by several city councillors at a meeting last September.

During the first few months of the program, a number of the rented scooters were abandoned in various places in the south end of the city near the waterfront, prompting Ward 1 Coun. Stephen Dasko to say he’d “lost count of how many complaints I have received.”

Since then, the city and its partners in the program — Bird Canada and Lime Canada — have taken a long look at the initiative’s first year with an eye toward significantly improving things in year two.

In addition to increased fines and better parking facilities, the program in 2025 will see faster response times in picking up abandoned/illegally parked e-scooters/e-bikes, city officials say.

(Cover photo: City of Mississauga)