Electric scooters back in Ottawa, longer hours offered
Electric scooters are once again rolling down the streets of Ottawa ahead of another summer, providing residents with a convenient mode of transportation for short trips in the downtown core.
Rebecca Kovacs and her friends are visiting Ottawa from Vancouver, and using e-scooters to explore downtown.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
"We're kind of just cruising around, exploring the town," said Kovacs.
Duru Gundogdu adds, "I mean, this is kind of like my first time in Ottawa, so doing this is kind of fun, getting to know the city, you know?"
The city kicked off its fifth year last Thursday, marking the return of the popular e-scooters to the capital.
"It's a really great example of working together with the community to make the program work for, frankly, all members of the community," said Austin Spademan, Bird Canada's head of government partnerships.
Operating hours are extended this year.
"It used to cut off at 11 p.m. and now the City of Ottawa has extended the operating hours to 1 a.m., which gives a lot more flexibility to our riders to basically have a reliable mode of transportation any time of the day," Spademan said.
Orléans South-Navan Coun. Catherine Kitts, vice-chair of the city's transportation committee, highlighted the safety measures accompanying the extended hours, including a sobriety test requirement for riders using the scooters after 11 p.m.
"And because we're going later into the evening after 11 p.m., we're requiring that there's actually a sobriety test with the technology, just to make sure that it's safe. You know, if people are using them after they're out and about, we want to make sure everybody's safe," Kitts said.
The sobriety test is a series of skill-testing questions or a test of your reaction time on the app.
The extended hours apply to several neighborhoods, including Downtown, Westboro, Sandy Hill, The Glebe, and Vanier; however, riders in the ByWard Market area will still be cut-off at 11 p.m. The city plans to begin the season with 900 e-scooters and may increase the number to 1,200 if necessary.
"Since launching in Ottawa, people have traveled over half a million kilometres on their own e-scooters, which is quite incredible. That's had an estimated impact of, inverting 35 tonnes of CO2 emissions since we launched in the city," said Isaac Ransom, Neuron Mobility Canada's head of corporate affairs.
The e-scooters not only help people travel more efficiently, they are also helping the local economy.
"When riders are scooting around the city, 73 per cent of these trips are resulting in a purchase, which is pretty fantastic for main street businesses with an average of $32 per person. And so it is having a significant economic impact on the city of Ottawa," Ransom said.
During the 2023 season, approximately 50,000 users took nearly 180,000 trips around the city, averaging about 1,000 trips per day.
"Every year we kind of take the feedback we're getting from the community, to bring that back to the companies. And so they're becoming more and more widely accepted. I think there was a lot of resistance initially, and I think now people are embracing them," Kitts said.
"The one thing that I would change, rather than doing by the minute, tourists, they might want to just take it for an hour. So do kind of like an hourly rate." Said Kovacs.
This year's e-scooter season will run until Nov. 15.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.