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E-scooters can be the future — if done right

MEL MARGINET

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/08/27/e-scooters-can...

THE summer of 2026 has been the season that e-scooters and e-bikes transitioned from something advocates were predicting would be a big deal to an obvious reality to everyday Manitobans.

The conditions have been right for an uptick — we’re in the midst of an affordability crisis in which more and more people are looking for alternatives to driving. As demand has soared, availability has moved beyond mostly European exports to incredibly cheap options being available on dubious sales platforms such as Temu.

If you’ve been passed by a zooming e-bike or nearly run off the sidewalk by an e-scooter, you’re probably saying “the city ought to have some rules about this!”

Municipalities have been requesting that the province update the Highway Traffic Act for years so that micromobility options, such as e-scooters, can be regulated under bylaws. Provincial legislation that would prohibit riding on sidewalks, set age limits, restrict speed and require helmet use was passed on June 1, but has not yet been proclaimed. This has created the “Wild West” environment we’re in now.

The news this summer has been full of bad behaviour stories around e-scooters and e-bikes, and it’s easy to understand why.

The lack of regulation means there isn’t a public awareness campaign about how to use these items properly. There’s no regulation of things such as maximum speeds, so we don’t have any controls on items entering the country. As Patty Wiens recently noted in a Free Press story on e-rides: “It’s not a replacement for a bike … It’s a replacement for a car.” Folks using these e-rides are often using bike lanes and trails for the first time.

It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon of finger- pointing (the Globe & Mail recently called e-scooters a “scourge”!), but the reality is that e-rides have the potential to improve our transportation options substantially.

In Winnipeg, we need to reach a 50 per cent driving-mode share by 2050 to meet the goals of the city’s Transportation Master Plan. This means that 50 per cent of trips need to be made by walking, cycling, transit or carpooling. Our current 80 per cent driving-mode share is a long way away from that. Could these e-rides be a good tool?

I first rode an e-scooter back in about 2018. As the publisher at Great Plains Press, I was in Frankfurt, Germany, for its book fair. Frankfurt has amazing public transit. But, where I was staying was around a kilometre from the fair. Not far enough to bother hopping on a streetcar, but far enough that walking back and forth was a slog. The first and last mile is where e-scooters thrive!

Parked near where I was staying was a spot for Lime e-scooters. I was intrigued, so I downloaded the app, created an account, and took one for a spin to test it out. I was glad I did.

E-scooters are appealing for many reasons. Most importantly, they are easy to ride. Your centre of gravity is low, making them very sturdy and easy to balance on. Travel was much faster than walking, but not too fast. In Germany, speed is regulated. The scooter company had to ensure its scooters couldn’t exceed the local limit. You can even restrict them from certain areas (geofencing shuts them down in certain zones.)

In Frankfurt, I had good infrastructure to use. Studies show e-riders don’t want to be on the road, nor do they want to be on the sidewalk. The most preferred infrastructure is bike lanes, and Germany was building out its cycling network long before e-scooters entered the scene. As a tourist, I didn’t need special equipment. Helmet use is encouraged, but I didn’t need to own a helmet or have to rent one (gross) or risk a fine.

Because the infrastructure is so safe and speeds are regulated, e-scooters are seen — like walking and bicycle riding — as just another perfectly safe way to get around outside of a personal vehicle.

Sprawling Winnipeg has an opportunity with the adoption of e-rides. First, we need quick access to frequent, fast transit. Our spine and feeder network, with limited operating funds, means that having more options for folks to get to F, FX or RT lines without needing a feeder bus is ideal.

In Winnipeg, most trips are quite short. In 2016, Statistics Canada data showed that Winnipeggers made some of the shortest trips in all of Canada at 6.6 km. Yet our use of personal vehicles for trips remains stubbornly high. Not only is this, honestly, deeply embarrassing, it’s also a burden on our emissions and costs (personal vehicles are expensive for both the drivers as well as the municipality). As mentioned above, e-riders are not people moving from bikes to e-rides, they are people replacing car trips. We need to encourage this adoption as much as we can.

Importantly, travel costs are a major benefit. Owning a vehicle in Canada is becoming ever more expensive. In 2016, the cost to travel by personal vehicle was $8,000-$12,000 a year. Since then, we’ve seen an increase in gas prices, so I’m going to imagine the next data will show the cost of personal vehicles rising.

Our aging population is another reason we stand to make huge gains. Seniors are a major reason e-bike sales are booming, and both the city and the province should recognize the wonderful co-benefits of encouraging seniors to stay active in their communities for as long as possible.

We need the province to work with urban centres to allow local bylaws that make sense. Cities around the world are far ahead of us in learning lessons on how to integrate this mode of travel. Let’s follow the best practices of the places that are years ahead.

Even though we don’t yet have formal “rules” for e-rides, we need to have common courtesy in our bike lanes and on multi-use paths. Keep an eye out for other users; ring your bell or otherwise alert those you are approaching from behind; keep your speed to 25 km/h or less; slow down to pass; and ride defensively and respectfully.

Remember, many e-riders might be using this infrastructure for the first time. Try to address tensions firmly but generously. We want new users to ride safely and respectfully, but of course, we want them to keep riding instead of driving.

We all want to get to where we are going safely no matter how we travel. Stay safe, have fun and enjoy the journey out there.

Mel Marginet is a member of Green Action Centre’s sustainable transportation team and the publisher at Great Plains Press, which publishes The City Project.