Skip to main content

Montreal bans e-scooters following rider misuse

The Canadian city of Montreal has outlawed shared electric scooters from its streets after hundreds of riders disregarded rules on parking and helmet use. 
By Ben Spencer March 12, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
Not all scooter riders played nice in Montreal (© Vlad Ispas | Dreamstime.com)

The decision follows a project last summer in which Lime and Bird deployed 430 and 250 e-scooters, respectively, at various locations in the city. 

Many users reportedly left the vehicles on the pavement or street instead of returning them to their designated areas.  

Last September, the city imposed $50 tickets on riders caught parking illegally.

Police also issued more than 300 tickets to riders who ignored rules on wearing helmets while riding e-scooters. 

A Montreal Bike Coalition spokesman told Montreal Gazette that there was ‘great potential’ in the scheme.

“The average trip on the scooters was just 1.5km and, in 2019, 25% of the trips were linked to public transit. The problem, of course, is that the operators didn’t do what they had to do to make sure that people who were renting them were following the rules when it comes to parking.”

Lime general manager Michael Markevich, says: “With more than 200,000 trips and 50,000 riders in just three months, it’s clear there was a real demand for greener, more convenient transportation options. We remain open to solutions that address the city’s concerns and are eager to bring the program back as soon as possible.”

Those who own an e-scooter may still use them on some public roads.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Spreading the word about Bike Share in the US
    April 19, 2016
    Smart bike share technology and funding policies help bridge the transit gap through the final mile as Andrew Bardin Williams explains. The sharing economy is coming to Portland this summer. BikeTown, the city’s new bike share program sponsored by Nike, will be launched in mid-July with 1,000 bicycles distributed across 100 stations throughout the city. Originally funded by a $2 million federal grant, the program has been boosted by a $10 million sponsorship deal with Nike ensures funding for the next five
  • Singapore bans e-scooters from pavements
    November 21, 2019
    Singapore has banned electric scooters from pavements in a move which could cost offenders fines up to S$2,000 along with three months in prison.
  • Better websites build smarter transport participation
    March 17, 2017
    Transport initiatives are gaining traction through well-designed websites. Four European smart transport-oriented websites have gained honours in the 2016 .eu Web Awards, an online competition inaugurated in 2014 to recognise the most impressive sites within the .eu internet domain in terms of their design and content. The four were among 15 finalists across all five categories of the scheme, giving the transport sector a high profile for its proactive use of sites as communications tools for driving major
  • A need for order in evolution
    February 27, 2012
    The hit film Jurassic Park took its name from one of the several geological periods or epochs (as they are also known) in which dinosaurs were the dominant land-dwellers.