City committee blocks unchecked use of e-scooters
Article content
A Toronto committee is proposing to postpone any plans for wide-open electric scooter use at least until the provincial government comes forward with a regulations to govern them.
Motions adopted by the Infrastructure and Environment Committee Monday would, if adopted by city council, make it clear that bylaw enforcement officers will confiscate e-scooters parked on public property, including sidewalks and bike stands.
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
City committee blocks unchecked use of e-scooters Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Toronto Councillor James Pasternak predicted these rules would block companies that provide a dockless scooter-sharing system, outside of small ventures like a test project underway on private property in the Distillery District.
“I think if these motions pass, we’re going to hyper regulate it right out of the city,” Pasternak said. “I don’t know how these companies could ever function here.”
The committee was told that the provincial government was looking at introducing a framework to allow the legal use of e-scooters on city roads.
Municipalities would be responsible for enforcing rules around public right of way.
Councillor Mike Layton said the provincial government has given the city almost no time to respond to this issue and raised concerns about huge enforcement costs.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Layton suggested e-scooters might be combined in some way with the Bike Share program.
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong asked where e-scooter users were supposed to park their devices, and was told in their homes, offices or similar places.
Toronto Councillor Anthony Perruzza questioned why the city was prepared to “regulate the hell out” of e-scooters.
“We now allow people to willy nilly park their bicycles, the peddle bicycles, all over the sidewalk everywhere,” Perruzza said. “So why wouldn’t we, as part of a pilot, allow e-scooters — a lot of them look like bicycles — to be able to do the same thing as a bicycle.”
Committee members heard that potentially thousands of e-scooters could be left all over city sidewalks without some kind of control, and that all the new rules would be revisited once the provincial framework was set up.
aartuso@postmedia.com
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.