A new shared e-scooter system has officially hit the streets of Vancouver.
Lime scooters are now available to rent throughout parts of East Vancouver, including the Hastings-Sunrise and Grandview Woodlands areas.
The company has rolled out 100 electric scooters and 27 parking stations. Vancouver is the first North American city to test out the parking stations.
The stations are meant to establish clear end-of-trip locations for the scooters and address concerns about the devices being left to clutter streets and sidewalks.
The scooters have become popular in a number of major cities, and have raised concerns about road safety. The city, however, says it is confident in the program.
“You actually have more control with a shared system than you do with private scooters,” Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said Thursday.
“The speed on the Lime scooters is limited to 25 kilometres per hour; you can’t do that with a privately owned scooter.”
Lawrence Frank, a professor at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, said riders will still need to exercise caution.
“Just because it can go a certain speed, doesn’t mean people should, and there’s a certain judgment in having that responsibility upon the users to not be going too fast in places where there are pedestrian crossings and other modes intermixing a lot,” he said.
“So that’s going to be the important part is there’s a learning curve when you bring in a new form of transportation.”
Scooter riders will be required to wear a helmet and are prohibited from riding on sidewalks.
The scooters can be used on roads with speed limits of 50 kilometres per hour or less, greenways and bike lanes and Vancouver’s seawall. Riders must be at least 18 years old.
The program will be rolled out to other Vancouver neighbourhoods over the coming year.