E-scooter ridership rebounds amid continued focus on safety

Ottawa's e-scooterridership more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, even as more safety features rolled out.

The two e-scooter companies chosen for the fourth year of Ottawa's pilot program Neuron Mobility and Bird Canada rolled out 900 e-scooters in May and wrapped up last week.

"We've seen a huge increase in demand and ridership," said Isaac Ransom, Neuron's head of corporate affairs, in an interview with CBC Radio'sAll in a Day.

"Our riders travelled over 185,000 kilometres, which is pretty significant."

The citysays total trips this seasontopped out at about 179,000, more than double last year's 80,000.

Ransom partly attributes that to an expanded riding area this year.

The city says the ByWard Market, Glebe, Dows Lake, Sandy Hill, Centretown and West Centretown had the most e-scooters throughout the season.

Extra safety measures

Earlier this year, the companies said ridership droppedin 2022 partly dueto the city's "restrictive" policies and a late launch. The 2021 season saw about 490,000 rides and the debut in 2020, about 238,000.

The city says"safety and innovation were prioritized"thisseason.

It saw further rollout of safety features on e-scooterslikeGPS and AI technologies to help with more accurate locations of the scooters, a detection system that disengages the motor when a rider is on a sidewalk and apps requiring riders to provide proof of proper parking.

Ransom says the company is seeing a "normalization" oftechnology implemented for safer riding.

"Our riders are very good at understanding what the rules are now," Ransom said.

He saidgeofencing and an audible alerting system, used for when a scooter approaches pedestrians, have become helpful solutions to concerns raised in previous years by councillors and residents.

All in a Day8:46Bump in fourth year of e-scooter program

Neuron, one of the city's two rental e-scooter programs, says riders clocked up more distance in the fourth year of the pilot.

The city says it's aware of three suspensions issued by the companies this seasonand most of the complaints received by the city were related to e-scooters improperly parked and sidewalk riding.

The citywants residents to submit feedback:asurvey on the pilotis open until Friday.