E-scooters are gaining traction as one way to get around the City of Fredericton.
The rechargeable, fairly lightweight scooters are becoming popular on the trails and sidewalks in the capital city and anyone can rent them from Mint Rentals.
Matt Nicholson, a co-owner of Mint Rentals, says the idea started out small and continually grew over time. These days, rentals are steady.
“Four to start, and we bought three more and then in August we bought, I think, we bought 20 more and then this year we have over 200,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
He has another location in Shediac as well.
E-scooters can travel up to 32 km/h and are user friendly, according to Nicholson.
“They’re really simple,” he said. “Some have two brakes, front and back, some have (an) emergency brake over the tire.”
But the City of Fredericton is considering a bylaw for this new method of transportation, especially since the current one only applies to bicycles. In the city, in order to ride a bicycle, it has to have a bell, riders have to wear helmets, and cyclists can’t drive faster than 15 km/h on the trails, but none of it applies to e-scooters.
In May, the mobility committee voted down the proposal to ban e-scooters rated beyond 500 watts in power from the trails. It also voted down the amendment to limit the speed of e-scooters.
Nicholson has met with city officials to discuss what a bylaw would look like.
“I think education is kind of the starting point and we had talked about that,” he said. “Signs on the trails, different things like that, different speeds and whatnot, but I think education is the biggest part to it.”
Mint does require riders to wear a helmet and many scooters are equipped with bells.
For the meantime, though, riders can scoot around the city without any issue.
Emily Boucher and her son spent some time on the scooters Wednesday.
“It’s a fun son-and-mother date,” she said. “We had a great time.”