Electric and gas-powered scooters, bikes with trailers banned from Halifax ferries

Halifax Transit will no longer allow two-wheeled electric and gas-powered scooters or bikes with trailers on its ferries, effective immediately.

The city says the vehicles take up too much space on the vessels and have become a safety concern for passengers.

Halifax spokesperson Adam Richardson says the problem surfaced recently with the scheduled closures of the Macdonald Bridge as part of the Big Lift project.

“People maybe didn’t want to travel all the way to the MacKay Bridge so they were using the ferry for vehicle traffic as well,” Richardson said.

“There were complaints on this issue and it’s certainly a safety issue as well.”

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The ban also includes child-carrying trailers that are attached to bicycles, but Richardson says Halifax Transit is willing to revisit that policy.

“The length of the trailer really limits the maneuverability inside the ferry,” he said

“We have discussed if both parents are present and the trailer is decoupled from bike, they may consider refinement to the policy with conditions — if decoupling isn’t too cumbersome.”

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The Halifax Cycling Coalition tweeted they were “surprised and disappointed” with the announcement. Richardson confirms he has been in contact with the coalition to clarify the details of the policy changes.

Meanwhile, electric power-assisted bicycles with small boost motors and Segways are still permitted on the ferries.