The Guardian (Charlottetown)

Safety a two-way street

E-scooter issues continue despite business’ commitment to changes: Of

As summer winds down, P.E.I.’S capital is taking another look at the safety of e-scooter rentals.

For the past few years, Epic Electric Scooters have been zipping through the streets of Charlottet­own. Riders, sometimes two per scooter, fly past cars downtown or between pedestrian­s on the boardwalk — often without a helmet in sight.

Things were supposed to change this summer. Tafadzwa Mpaso, CEO of Epic Electric, appeared before a committee in the spring to explain his plans to control dangerous riding.

This has not happened, Charlottet­own Police Chief Brad Macconnell says.

While Mpaso had installed technology that he said would help the ongoing issues — such as age or sobriety verificati­on — the mitigation has not worked, Macconnell said at the Aug. 28 protective and emergency services committee.

“Charlottet­own Police Services continue to see low compliance from the riders of e-scooters. They’re continuall­y riding with no helmets, on sidewalks and with more than one rider. Our enforcemen­t efforts have been increased, but e-scooters are being operated all hours throughout the day

and night, due to there being no bylaw in place to prohibit that.”

Coun. Kevin Ramsay, who chairs the committee, pointed out that e-scooter rentals in the city are a pilot project. With the number of complaints, council could say no to the request to use city land next year, he said.

“We don’t have the resources or the officers, in my mind, to be on every street in the City of Charlottet­own to see somebody drive by and say, you know, pull them over.”

He suggested a public awareness campaign about fines alongside more stiff enforcemen­t; to show people they must wear helmets or face a penalty.

GOOD FAITH

Coun. Norman Beck, though, said the city has tried education, and everyone knows they need to wear a helmet on bikes and scooters. People are simply choosing not to comply, he said.

The city had been acting on

good faith in the face of safety concerns, he said.

“Good faith is a two-way street,” Beck said. “I’m disappoint­ed, honestly, to hear … that the good faith is not there, and we are still experienci­ng some of the challenges that we faced before.”

Deputy Mayor Alanna Jankov said there is a second company renting out scooters now, but they don’t have an arrangemen­t with the city to use public land.

As the councillor for the downtown area where scooters are most in use, she said things have not improved. If anything, it’s gotten worse, she said.

“It’s very easy to identify the private scooters that people own and they just do their own thing, and the ones that are owned by the companies.

And if the company ones claim that they have a system in place that stops them from being on the boardwalks and every place, I call bull on that.”

She and Ramsay both said they had tried to reach Mpaso repeatedly, with no luck. This was disappoint­ing, Jankov said.

The Guardian also contacted Mpaso on Sept. 4 but did not get a response by deadline.

Before Mpaso’s commitment to improving safety, the city was looking into temporaril­y banning e-scooter rentals while police drafted a bylaw.

That bylaw is still coming, Macconnell told The Guardian in March.