The City of Calgary has been running an electric vehicle scheme, designed to encouraged citizens to try out alternative modes of transport. The scheme included shared e-bikes and shared e-scooters.
The report from the city council examines the period from July 2019 to October 2019, and the data shows there were 750,000 recorded e-scooter trips over the period of review. According to the survey, those who used e-scooters tended to use it for five to 15 trips. A third of e-scooter rides replaced a car trip, which is consistent with data drawn in relation to other cities.
Not only was the take-up relatively high, those who tried electric vehicles liked the experience. The report reveals that 86 percent of people using a shared device preferred e-scooters over e-bikes.
To support the program, the city government set up a helpline. This too proved to reasonably popular. A total of 281 calls were made to the City’s 3-1-1 line, across e-scooters and e-bikes. The number of calls were highest at the beginning of the pilot and declined over time.
No form of transportation is completely safe, although e-scooter related incidences remain relatively rare. There were 33 serious e-scooter injuries that required an ambulance ride to the emergency room. This related to serious e-scooter injuries occurring at a rate of 1 patient admitted to hospital per 100,000 rides. The rate of minor (that is, non-admitted) e-scooter injuries was recorded at a rate of 1 per 1,500 rides. As per Bird Canada, this is a significantly lower rate of injury compared to bicycles.
From an economic standpoint, over 50 percent of shared e-scooter and shared e-bike trips ended in a Business Improvement Area (BIA) or Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ), showing that people are using these shared devices to largely access local business, which supports the local economy.
The report concludes by proclaiming the program as a success that that further use of e-scooters should be encouraged. Among the recommendations made in the report is to implement lower speed zones (to 15km/h instead of 20km/h) in high pedestrian areas; and to implement designated parking zones in high demand parking areas.
