WATERLOO REGION - The provincial government will launch an electronic scooter pilot program starting early next year that will allow the popular vehicles to travel on public roads.

The five-year pilot will launch Jan. 1 and municipalities that wish to participate will be required to pass bylaws permitting their use and to dictate where they can and cannot operate. E-scooters are currently banned from all Ontario roads.

"Ontario's e-scooter pilot will help businesses expand, enrich local economies and offer people more options to get around safely," Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said in a news release. "Our government is strongly committed to promoting the highest standards of safety for all Ontarians who travel on our roads."

The province has set out a number of rules as part of the pilot, including a minimum age for riders (16), that helmets be required for riders under 18, that e-scooters will need to be equipped with a horn or bell, and that they must have a front and rear light.

Scooters will be limited to 24 km/h, and no passengers or cargo will be permitted. They will also not be allowed on controlled access highways, such as the 400-series highways.

But the province has also left many of the rules around scooter use up to individual municipalities. Under the new pilot, cities will be responsible for determining where scooters are and are not permitted, as well as parking locations and liabilities.

Rachel Martin, economic development co-ordinator with the City of Waterloo, said she is pleased to see the government approve the pilot but was disappointed to see so much of the decision-making is left up to each municipality.

She said it could make it tough for the province to develop a comprehensive evaluation of how the pilot fared across Ontario five years from now.

"It could be a big task down the road to contact every municipality and try to compare what approach they took," Martin said. She hopes the Region of Waterloo and area municipalities can come together to draft one cohesive plan for the entire region.

The City of Waterloo and University of Waterloo partnered last year to launch the first e-scooter pilot in Canada with California-based company Lime. The two-phase pilot ran last fall and relaunched this spring before wrapping up in mid-August.

Martin also believes five years is probably too long for the pilot.

"We could determine what did and didn't work within a year," she said of Waterloo's pilot.

The government believes e-scooters have the potential to help hundreds of thousands of commuters get to transit connections, reduce congestion and open the Ontario market to a new and growing sector.

In a news release Wednesday, Lime said it looks forward to working with governments across Canada to advance e-scooter use.

"With Ontario adopting regulations for its e-scooter pilot, we're excited by the momentum micromobility continues to gain across Canada," said Chris Schafer, Lime's senior director for strategic development in Canada.

Luke Mydlarz, founder of the local e-scooter company Zip, said they "look forward to working with cities in Ontario to bring Zip scooters to their communities. This is a big step for the micromobility industry in Canada."

jjackson@therecord.com

Twitter: @JamesDEJ

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