City council voted April 19 to make yet another amendment to St. Albert's ongoing e-scooter pilot to try to further limit clutter.
Coun. Sheena Hughes put forward a motion to decrease the window e-scooter companies have for pick-ups from two days to two hours, cap the amount of e-scooter companies that can operate in 2022 at five (the number of companies already participating in the pilot program), and limit the number of e-scooters each company can operate to 60.
Shawn McCauley, St. Albert’s manager of business retention and expansion, told council 330 e-scooters were deployed in the pilot program last year, averaging around 85 per company.
St. Albert’s e-scooter pilot began in September 2021, and will run until December of this year.
Earlier in March, Hughes passed a successful motion to tweak the pilot by adding preferred and designated parking zones, as well as no-park zones. These are virtual areas marked out in each e-scooter app’s digital map. While not mandatory, the zones help guide riders to park in spots the City favours in exchange for incentives, such as ride credits.
Chris Schafer, vice-president of government affairs for Bird Canada, suggested council up the number of e-scooters permitted for one company to 100, or split the difference and bring the number to 80.
“That might be a little bit more economical for the companies that remain,” Schafer said.
McCauley noted he did not speak with individual companies to look at specific thresholds for how many e-scooters they would need to run to see a financial return.
Some councillors voiced support for Schafer’s suggestion to split the difference and move the number of permitted e-scooters in Hughes’s motion to 80.
“I’m going to actually let the free market run at 80, that will be my vote,” Mayor Cathy Heron said, noting council will need to have a more in-depth conversation after the pilot is concluded.
Coun. Ken MacKay argued the most essential way of addressing e-scooter clutter would be through the reduced pick-up window.
“I don't think it's sustainable for a company to walk in with only a maximum of 60 e-scooters,” MacKay said.
Hughes noted that Schafer hadn’t said 60 would not be sustainable, only that he would prefer 80.
“I’m not negotiating,” Hughes said. “I’m trying to figure out what works best for the community.”
Coun. Wes Brodhead also voiced support for the motion.
“If the numbers don’t work for the e-scooter company, they won’t be here, but somebody will because people do use them,” Brodhead said, noting the maximum e-scooters operated by all companies in St. Albert would be 300, versus 330.
Brodhead noted Calgary allows two e-scooter companies to operate 750 e-scooters each.
“They’ve got 1,500 for a city 14 times our size, so I don’t think 300 is out of the question for our community,” Brodhead said.
Hughes’s motion passed 6-1, with Coun. Natalie Joly opposed.
