Scooting the suburbs: Edmonton expands e-scooter riding zones to more areas

Electric scooters and e-bikes are set to expand to more areas of Edmonton, as the city has approved expanding riding zones.

The new boundaries extend to include much of west and southwest Edmonton up to Anthony Henday Drive, along with more of the east side north of the Whitemud, and a larger area of the north side. Notably exempt is Mill Woods and the southeast suburbs.

Starting Aug. 14, the city said the perimeter of the riding zones will expand to include the following areas:

• Southwest to the Anthony Henday Drive
• North to 137th Avenue and portions of Castle Downs
• East to 50th Street

The city had previously said it was working with the scooter operators to expand across more of Edmonton.

While the city has expanded the operating zone, the three scooter companies — Lime, Bird and Neuron — are not obligated to operate across all of it and can set their own boundaries within the perimeter.

The map below shows the existing boundaries in blue and the expanded areas in purple.

The city said it has allowed each vendor to add more e-scooters and e-bikes to their fleets to service the larger area.

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There’s a 24-hour parking time limit around the perimeter of the zone to try and prevent end-of-trip parking clutter and to maintain scooter and bike access across the city.

In the six years since the launch of electric scooters (and later e-bikes), the city said they’ve been embraced by Edmontonians and visitors to commute, get home from a transit centre or simply have a fun ride.

There was a delay in deploying the scooters and bikes this spring. The city was renegotiating with the scooter companies from two- to three-year contracts and changing up some of the rules to allow more flexibility and areas where the scooters and bikes can operate, while also improving parking compliance and safety.

1:51 E-scooters and bikes delayed in Edmonton return

That resulted in scooters not being available until the end of May. Since then, the city said shared e-scooters and e-bikes have been used for more than 93,000 hours this year.

The year-round contract allows operators the flexibility to keep their fleet on the street as long as the weather allows, the city said, adding that a new vendor fee structure will help address concerns with fleet management, improper parking and street clutter without invoking the need for fleet maximums.

Both Bird and Lime have operated in Edmonton since the program launched in 2019, and the city said there is a possibility for future expansion.

A third company, Spin, joined the fray for a year in 2021 but the following year, the city limited the number of vendors to two — Bird and Lime — and also required that they provide both e-scooters and e-bikes.

This year, a different third company — Neuron — launched later in the spring.

5:55 Riding effortlessly into summer on e-scooters and e-bikes in Edmonton