Neuron e-scooters and e-bikes will be returning to streets and trails across the region in April despite a lukewarm response to the program launched last year.
Neuron Mobility, which launched shared ebikes and e-scooters, with up to 500 vehicles each, in Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo in a program coordinated by Grand River Transit, has renewed an agreement with the region to bring the program back.
In Cambridge the pilot program was limited to Galt's core, a portion of west Galt and stretched north along Hespeler Road to Langs and Sheldon drives.
The program did not serve the Hespeler or Preston cores.
And although there are no firm plans on where the program will expand in Cambridge this year, Julie Bélanger, principal planner in transportation demand management for the region, said city staff is working with Neuron to finalize those details.
Next week Belanger will present the findings of an end-of-season survey conducted on EngageWR in October and November that heard from 1,155 respondents about the successes and failures of the first year of the program.
The region's Active Transportation Advisory Committee will hear that of those who completed the survey, including users and non users, 38.6 per cent of respondents were satisfied, 35.1 per cent were dissatisfied, and 26.6 per cent were neutral.
Survey respondents that used a shared e-bike/e-scooter were found to be in greater support of the program than non-users.
The region’s corporate contact center received 56 calls or face-to-face inquiries related to the program.
Belanger says staff expects to see the number of trips increase as the program matures, and the service area expands.
Over 190,000 rides were taken on the e-scooters and e-bikes last year, totalling over 360,000 kilometers travelled.
According to the monitoring platform used by the project team, that ridership resulted in up to 12 tonnes in carbon dioxide savings, which is equivalent to 192 mature trees.
According to Neuron’s analysis, 37 per cent of all trips started or ended at transit stops and stations.
Staff expect improvements in community perception as users become familiar with the service and the rules of road, and drivers become more accustomed to a new vehicle type.
Staff have also established partnerships with Waterloo Regional Police Service, as well as Public Health and Paramedic Services and have developed a strategy for ongoing monitoring/reporting to inform future years of the project.
Last year there were 28 emergency vehicle responses for both personal and shared e-scooter related injuries with the reporting period ending Aug 31.
In comparison, there were 56 emergency vehicle responses for personal pedal bikes.
No fatalities were reported related to shared e-scooters/e-bikes program.
The program is designed to be revenue neutral for the Region of Waterloo and cities, with Neuron being charged scalable fees to offset any program costs to the municipalities and to fund program improvements supportive of the region’s goals for the program.
Municipal staff time to oversee the pilot met expectations, Belanger reports, and there were no additional costs associated with the operation and maintenance of roads or active transportation facilities to date.
Equity in the program will become greater priority as the program becomes more established and cost to access is considered.
In the first year, 62 students took advantage of a student pass provided, but no riders applied to access Neuron’s pass for low-income individuals.
Belanger reports staff have had initial conversations with Neuron about integrating adaptive vehicles into the fleet, and will continue to investigate potential approaches in 2024.
Neuron currently does not have any adaptive vehicles deployed in Canada.
Priorities for the project team this year will be working on outreach and education with Neuron and post secondary institutions, planning for service area expansions and working with Neuron to improve geofences and parking compliance.
