A LimeAble adaptive e-scooter is pictured in this photo from Lime. LimeAble adaptive e-scooters and e-bikes are in the discussion stage between the City of Kelowna and Lime.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Lime
April 20, 2022 - 2:44 PM
Lime had joined Spin as the second of only two companies renting e-scooters and e-bikes in Kelowna, with a soft launch by Lime starting today, April 20.
The e-scooters have been around since last spring, Spin just launched its e-bike program in November.
READ MORE: Move over e-scooters, e-bike share program launches in Kelowna
And they could soon be joined by three-wheel options for for people with disabilities or for whom the regular e-bikes and e-scooters are not an option.
Details still have to be worked out but, in other places where Lime offers its “LimeAble” service, people can book the vehicles for 24 hours, have them delivered and the rentals are free.
LimeAble adaptive e-scooters and e-bikes are in the discussion stage between the City of Kelowna and Lime.
Image Credit: Submitted/Lime
In the meantime, each company has a permit with the city to rent up to 250 e-scooters and 150 e-bikes for the next two years. No other companies will be entering the market.
“The maximum we had last summer was just under 1,000 (scooters),” Cameron Noonan, the city’s transportation planner, told iNFOnews.ca. “I think it (750) is a reasonable number of scooters to have in the community, balancing wanting them to be available across a wide area and have your vehicles located as close to as many residents as possible but also wanting to balance some of those concerns we heard about clutter and overcrowding.”
The program was launched last year as part of a provincially-approved pilot project that allows the scooters to travel in bike lanes and other areas traditionally off limits for such vehicles.
It was scaled back last year because of complaints about poorly parked scooters and overcrowding downtown.
READ MORE: New rules cut Kelowna e-scooter program by more than half
The companies are bringing a “new generation” of safer scooters that have dual brakes along with engine breaks to prevent them from going over 24 km/h.
They can have only 30% of their fleets downtown and the vehicles are banned there between 10:30 p.m. and 4 a.m.
Both bikes and scooters will have helmets attached as they are required by law to be worn. The helmets and vehicles will be cleaned once a day, Noonan said.
Riding is allowed in most parts of the city, but not all. The machines are geofenced so they are not allowed on Knox Mountain. There is some talk about allowing them on the paved roadway only but that’s not in place right now.
Spin is the only company allowed to operate on the UBC Okanagan campus and that’s only with bikes. No e-scooters are allowed there.
Since UBCO controls its roadways, it’s up to them whether they choose to allow Lime to operate there as well.
The bikes have proved popular at UBCO, especially with students facing a steep uphill walk to residences along Academy Way, Noonan said. Others commute to class from off campus.
Since the program was launched last spring about 250,000 rides have been taken on the e-scooters. The average ride is about two kilometres.
About 10,000 rides have been taken since the end of January this year but that number is expected to increase as the weather warms.
The e-bikes are less popular, being used about one-quarter as often as the scooters. It’s too early to have data on average distances for the bike, Noonan said.
“We’re interested to see how that changes as we move into the summer as the weather improves,” Noonan said. “The bikes are still providing, we think, a valuable alternative for our residents, particularly for longer trips which are a little too long to use the scooters.”
The scooters are ideal for quickly travelling shorter distances that are a bit too long for walking, he said.
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