City of Edmonton promoting e-bike and scooter use with ‘micromobility’ events

Don’t knock it till you try it.

That’s the message from Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz, who was on a shared-use path at the foot of the Walterdale Bridge on Monday to promote Street Sparks, a new City of Edmonton program that will promote the use of e-bikes and scooters.

“I remember my first time riding an electric bike,” said Janz. “I was curious. I didn’t want to go out and make the purchase, but one of my friends had one. I went over to his place, put on my helmet, and I cruised around the neighbourhood. From that moment, I felt a surge of energy and thought, ‘Wow, this is something special.’ And now more and more Edmontonians are experiencing the joys of micromobility, especially electric bikes and electric scooters.”

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Street Sparks events will be held at the Booster Juice Recreation Centre on July 5, and at Mayfield Park July 19. There will be free demonstrations of e-bikes and scooters, plus workshops on maintenance.

“Many people are using new ways to navigate and explore Edmonton, and ebikes and e-scooters are at the centre of this shift,” said Livia Balone, the City’s director of environmental and climate resilience. “Street Sparks will be a celebration of this.”

“I think one of the biggest barriers is that until you’ve tried it, you may not be sure how it handles, how it works,” said Janz. He believes the workshops will dispel some of the myths surrounding these electric two-wheelers, from the cost of operation to how difficult they are to ride.

“Once you realize how convenient it is, it’s really quite exciting,” he said.

Janz said he saw “hundreds” of pedestrians and cyclists on the High Level Bridge Sunday afternoon, while cars were gridlocked on the two lanes following the Oilers’ playoff game on Sunday. He said it shows more Edmontonians are embracing alternative forms of transportation. And, he said the demographic that’s been the fastest to embrace scooters and ebikes is the older set. He said seniors are looking for cheap, reliable ways to get around the city. As if on cue, a group of seniors cycled over the bridge just as the press event came to an end.

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There are three e-bike/scooter rental companies that are contracted to do business in Edmonton: Neuron, Lime and Bird.

But, the City fields regular complaints about these companies’ scooters that are strewn across sidewalks, front lawns or in the river valley. Janz said he hopes that Edmonton will one day have a corral system, where these e-bikes and scooters are picked up at one depot, then the rider drops them off at another designated spot near their destination of choice. Montreal has this system in place, which Janz referred to as the “gold standard.”

“I live on Whyte Avenue, and I have to admit it is a bit of a frustration for me and my family,” Janz said of scooter litter.  “Sometimes they’re on the sidewalk, sometimes they’re elsewhere…. But let’s not distract from the fact that 99 per cent of the trips taken are done without incident, quite safely, and the disposal is handled very well.”

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