TAMRMS#: B06
12.1
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E-Scooter Program Amendment
Notice given by: Councillor Hughes
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
The purpose of this report is to provide information related to a Notice of Motion by Councillor Hughes on March 21st, 2022.
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PROPOSED MOTION:
recommendation
That the e-scooter program is amended to reduce the mandatory response time for pick ups from 48 hours to 1 hour and limit the pilot to no more than 4 e-scooter companies for 2022.
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ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
Strategic Priority #3: Building a Transportation Network: Integrated transportation systems.
ALIGNMENT TO LEVELS OF SERVICE DELIVERY
- Traffic Management
- Business Licensing
- Community Peace Officer - Traffic Enforcement Services
- Trail System
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
At the August 16, 2021 City Council meeting, Council approved the following motion:
That Administration develop specialized conditions of business licenses issued to e-scooter businesses, to regulate the licensees and to support the implementation of an e-scooter pilot project to conclude at the end of 2022.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City of St. Albert’s E-Scooter Pilot Program began in September 2021, and is scheduled to run through the end of December 2022. E-Scooter company operations are regulated through conditions on their issued Business Licences, which include a requirement that all misparked scooters are removed by the parent e-scooter company within 48 hours of receiving notice of the misparked e-scooter.
Should Council support this motion, regulations will be amended within Business Licence conditions to impose the following requirements for e-scooter companies:
• Misparked e-scooters must be picked-up within 1 hour of an e-scooter company receiving a report/complaint;
• A cap of 4 e-scooter companies will be issued Business Licences (Administration will determine a licensing approval process, such as a lottery system or a “first-come, first-served” model).
Administration has researched pick-up time requirements and company/fleet caps in other Albertan municipalities, and found the following related information:
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Pick-up Requirement |
E-Scooter Company/Fleet Caps |
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City of Red Deer |
3 hours |
No limits (5 companies participated in 2021) |
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City of Edmonton |
4 hours |
3 e-scooter companies, no fleet caps (fleet sizes must be approved by the City) |
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City of Calgary |
2 hours |
2 e-scooter companies, 750 e-scooters per company |
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Town of Okotoks |
Unknown |
1 e-scooter company, 50 e-scooters |
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Town of Cochrane |
Unknown |
1 e-scooter company, 150 e-scooters |
Administration has noted that although this limit would reduce the amount of e-scooter companies operating in St. Albert, the e-scooter pilot regulations would still have no limits on the number of deployed e-scooters allowed per e-scooter company.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
Administration consulted with e-scooter companies participating in the pilot to gain an understanding of the impacts of this motion.
Bird Canada provided feedback indicating support of the motion to reduce pick-up times to 1 hour, while suggesting that the number of e-scooter companies are capped at 5 and that a limit of 100 e-scooters per company is also imposed. At this time, it is unknown if the other companies servicing St. Albert would be able to meet these requirements.
IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial
Shortened response for pick up times for e-scooter companies are likely to increase operating costs for e-scooter response time for pick ups
Risk
A one-hour response time for the collection and re-parking of misparked e-scooters is likely to add additional staffing cost for participating e-scooter companies. This additional cost may make operating in St. Albert less viable and result in some e-scooter companies choosing to discontinue participating in the pilot program.
With St. Albert’s e-scooter pilot program, as is standard practice in comparator Alberta municipalities, reporting of mis-parked e-scooters is communicated by the public directly to the e-scooter company that owns the mis-parked scooter. Municipalities rely on the e-scooter companies to provide the staff and technology to receive and resolve these issues. One of the trade-offs of mitigating the cost associated with the responsibility of receiving and resolving parking issues, is that municipalities are unaware the issue and therefor are not able to effectively measure if an e-scooter was collected and re-parked within the require timeframe.
Service
Additional public communications will be required to properly inform residents of changes to the program.
Organizational
Changes and additional requirements will result in additional work for staff and will likely delay the relaunch of the e-scooter pilot for the 2022 season.
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
If Council does not wish to support the motion, the following alternatives could be considered:
Alternative 1 - Do nothing, and thus allow the E-Scooter Pilot Program to continue with the existing regulations implemented at the start of the program, with a full report and recommendations to be provided to Council at the end of the pilot.
Alternative 2 - Lower the pick-up time requirements for misparked scooters to 3 hours and limit the pilot to no more than 5 e-scooter companies, with each company permitted to deploy a maximum of 60 e-scooters.
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Report Date: April 19, 2022
Authors: Mike Erickson, Shawn McCauley
Department: Economic Development
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer (Interim): Diane McMordie
Chief Administrative Officer (Interim): Kerry Hilts