TORONTO -- When shared e-scooter companies rolled into Canada in 2018, they hoped a few small pilots would quickly result in a country full of people zipping around on two wheels.
"We'll see how big it is and how far it goes and how fast it spread, but there's not going to be a retrenchment against this. E-scooters are here to stay in Canada." During that trial period, Lime competitors Bird, Jump, Spin and Roll were expanding in Canada and Montreal decided to give Lime and Bird a shot with a summer 2019 pilot.
"There's a use case for scooters in Montreal and I'm optimistic that the shared e-scooter program will be back differently constituted," said Chris Schafer, Bird Canada's vice-president of government affairs."It's definitely not a lost cause," he said. "It's only a matter of time. I think will be back soon."
Provincial approval doesn't always spur municipalities to move ahead. Toronto, for example, decided in May to opt out of a provincial pilot permitting e-scooter trials because of safety concerns. "We don't have a clear idea of what gap in the transportation landscape these e-scooters would fill," Mitra said.
I hope they don't introduce these things until they implement proper lanes and paths for them. I'd hate to see them all over dangerous roads in suburbs such as Mississauga and Brampton.
e-Scooters are HUGE in Singapore. The first few times I saw adults using them though it seemed odd: 'adult male on a child's toy' vibe. Also some issues with the batteries randomly exploding, a real problem when they're stored inside your apartment.
Product in search of a market fit