Alternative transportation in Nanaimo will scoot into the future when BCAA’s Evolve shared e-mobility program expands across the city this spring.
E-scooters are part of a planned expansion of BCAA's Evolve e-bike share program, reported David Holzer, the program's business development manager, in a report to Nanaimo city council Monday, May 5.
He reported on the community’s response to the service since it started as a pilot program in the city one year ago, and its planned expansion with more e-bike stations added and e-scooters offering another way to get around town. Holtzer said e-scooters are more popular than e-bikes and have much higher usage rates than e-bikes, which makes them more effective at shifting people toward alternative transportation modes.
He cited statistics from Coquitlam's e-scooter and e-bike program, in which 94 per cent of trips were made on e-scooters, and said use of e-bikes and e-scooters replaced use of vehicles in one-third of trips in that city's program. In Kelowna, e-scooter and e-bike use replaced what would have been vehicle use in nearly half of all trips.
"So the mode shift is there," Holzer said. "You’re seeing people use these devices rather than drive a car.”
Statistics gathered by Evolve indicate 55 per cent of trips made on the devices include stops at local businesses resulting in purchases.
Holzer said the goal is to drive the shift to alternative transportation modes with a program that’s safe and accepted by the community.
“We’ll promote safe use of our devices and make sure they’re properly parked, well-maintained, ensure that pedestrian right-of-ways are taken care of. We’ll provide speed-limited e-scooters and we’ll collect a lot of data from the community and assess that data and make changes to the program as we get it,” Holzer said.
The first step in expanding Nanaimo's program will add 60 e-scooters next month and then more as demand for the devices grows. As with the e-bikes, the scooters will have their own parking zones that serve as the start and finish points for trips.
The e-scooter model for Nanaimo will feature a 12-inch front tire for stability over uneven ground, a short platform to discourage double riding, and a helmet attached to each unit. The e-scooters, like the e-bikes, are speed-limited, and won't be able to go more than 25 kilometres per hour.
Evolve is expanding its stations up to north Nanaimo, based on data gathered suggesting riders want to make trips to the north end via the E&N Trail.
“Once we launch you’ll see us in the community doing additional events and engagement and marketing to … promote how to safely use those devices,” Holzer said.
The Evolve bike program was launched as a pilot project last May with 16 bike stations and about 80 electric bikes, and the program has had very little trouble with theft or vandalism in the years it’s been operating, with just one bike stolen and eight vandalized so far. The program reports 94 per cent bike availability at its Nanaimo stations.
“We really pride ourselves on bringing a safe and reliable program to Nanaimo,” Holzer said. “We developed really strong procedures with our fleet management and we put our fleet teams into the field quite often to ensure that the bikes are clean, in good shape and are well-maintained and ready to use."
Holzer said there were no major accidents with bikes that were ridden 27,000 kilometres in Nanaimo over the year on more than 5,700 trips by nearly 2,400 riders. Evolve statistics indicate 50 per cent of those trips replaced trips that would have been made by cars.
Coun. Sheryl Armstrong said she’d just returned from Los Angeles, where she said she saw e-scooters randomly abandoned on sidewalks and elsewhere, and wondered if that would be a risk for Nanaimo. Holzer said the e-scooter system used in L.A. is a “free floating system” that allows for scooters to be dropped anywhere, whereas in Nanaimo bikes and scooters must be returned to their stations to avoid penalty fees.
Armstrong also expressed concern about the potential for head injuries among e-scooter users.
“I don’t know if one of my fellow councillors will share how they went over the handlebars on a e-scooter in Calgary – so I’m really concerned about them, to be honest,” she said.
