E-scooters will soon be hitting the streets of Edmonton after the city announced on its Facebook page that a business has been given a permit to operate an e-scooter share.
That means e-scooters will be hitting the streets of Edmonton “soon,” the post announced.
Which company was given the permit and when the e-scooters will be available wasn’t released.
The original timeline was to have the dockless scooters available in Edmonton and Calgary by July, but there was a holdup with the province making them legal, Edmonton city council said mid-July.
On July 16, in its last meeting before the summer recess, Edmonton city council voted to approve changes to the bylaw that governs e-scooters so companies offering that mode of transportation could officially set up shop in the city.
The scooters were successfully launched in Calgary in July.
In Edmonton, the shared scooters will not be allowed on sidewalks, only on shared-use paths the city maintains, along bike lanes and on roads where the posted speed limit is 50 km/h or less. The scooters will be able to travel up to 20 km/h.
Privately-owned scooters are not allowed to be operated on any of those roadways listed.
The scooters will not have docking stations to return to and instead can be parked on sidewalks, parking lanes, at transit centres, rec centres and on parkland. The scooter cannot block doors or travel for people walking, biking or driving.
On a sidewalk, the scooter must be parked at least 0.5 metres from the curb with about six feet of clearance for people to walk. On parkland, the scooter must be more than a metre from a shared pathway or trail and parked near the bike racks at a community facility or rec centre.
WATCH BELOW: There’s about to be a new way to get around Edmonton. As Breanna Karstens-Smith explains, the city has approved the use of e-scooters.
To use the e-scooter, the rider would lock and unlock the scooter with a phone app. Fees do apply.
— With files from Scott Johnston, 630 CHED and Breanna Karstens-Smith, Global News