{"id":847565,"date":"2026-08-06T00:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/847565\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T00:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:14:19","slug":"edmonton-rolls-out-e-scooter-safety-pilot-project-in-mill-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/847565\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton rolls out e-scooter safety pilot project in Mill Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mill Woods is the newest area in Edmonton where shared e-bikes and e-scooters are being introduced.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The expansion, announced by the city on Wednesday, will also serve as a safety pilot project to implement designated riding and parking zones in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Mill Woods was selected for the pilot because there was strong community interest and because it gives us a great opportunity to test new operating requirements,&#8221; Jordana Kulchar, the city&#8217;s supervisor of planning and permitting, said in a news release.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Kulchar also cited Mill Woods&#8217; connection to the city&#8217;s active transportation network, as well as its narrower sidewalks and fewer boulevards, as part of the reason the area in southeast Edmonton was selected for the trial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Drawing the lines<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The project is introducing designated riding areas in alignment with the city&#8217;s<a data-ylk=\"slk:active transportation network;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.edmonton.ca\/transportation\/cycling_walking\/bike-maps-and-routes\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> active transportation network<\/a>, a system of bike lanes and shared pathways, aiming to discourage riders from using sidewalks. The designated riding area\u00a0mandates that micromobility devices, like e-bikes and e-scooters, stick to Mill Woods Road or within 50 metres of recognized bike lanes and shared pathways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Geofencing, a virtual boundary or perimeter, will be used to enforce the designated areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The pilot also utilizes geofencing where riders are allowed to park. If a rider leaves an e-scooter or e-bike outside the corral (parking area) boundary, they will continue to be charged by the micromobility provider. One of those providers is Bird Canada.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bird Canada will start with 300 e-bikes and 300 e-scooters in Halifax this spring.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"641\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/cbc.ca\/037d35455d613770f8088c4e557a9699.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bird is one of two micromobility vendors approved by the City of Edmonton. (Bird Canada)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The city has marked several locations for parking,&#8221; Tyler Zeck, Bird Canada&#8217;s western operations manager, told CBC News. &#8220;There&#8217;s also additional digital corral locations in the Bird app.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said the restrictions on parking won&#8217;t greatly impact the quality of service, and that Bird is supportive of the new rules and the expansion into southeast Edmonton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This is a great blend between making sure the program is still accessible while also taking measures to reduce parking issues and other potential risks,&#8221; Zeck said. &#8220;I think everyone&#8217;s going to be really pleased when it all gets up and running.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In my opinion, it&#8217;s about time<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lime Canada, the city&#8217;s second approved provider, echoed the positive sentiments about the expansion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve worked closely with the City of Edmonton to design a service that meets the needs of Mill Woods, with a focus on safety, convenience and sustainability,&#8221; Zack Genau, senior operations manager at Lime Canada, wrote in a statement to CBC News.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We look forward to seeing residents and visitors alike make the most of these new transportation options as they move around the neighbourhood.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The pilot project comes after Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette put forward a motion in the spring to enact changes to the city&#8217;s <a data-ylk=\"slk:Shared Micromobility Program;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.edmonton.ca\/transportation\/cycling_walking\/bike-electric-scooter-sharing?utm_source=virtualaddress&amp;utm_campaign=scooters\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Shared Micromobility Program<\/a>, and called for the creation of a geofenced parking model for e-scooters and e-bikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;To have this pilot starting up in Mill Woods \u2026 is actually phenomenal,&#8221; he told CBC News on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a proactive first step, and in my opinion, it&#8217;s about time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette says the changes to micromobility device rules in Mill Woods are &quot;phenomenal.&quot;\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"532\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/cbc.ca\/23757ec1a0406b5518e9f43cdfdad78e.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette says the changes to micromobility device rules in Mill Woods are &#8220;phenomenal.&#8221; (Nicole Healey\/CBC News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Paquette cited accessibility concerns from e-scooters blocking walkways as one reason for the changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;[For regular users of e-scooters], it&#8217;ll be a bit of a new habit to learn, but the upside is that it will make our communities look a little bit better,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is going to be actually a benefit for the community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Paquette said the city plans to expand the rules to the rest of Edmonton if the pilot proves successful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The city is also reminding riders to stay safe by sticking to roads with a speed limit of 50 km\/h and below, and using shared pathways and bike lanes when possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This is an amenity,&#8221; Paquette said. &#8220;Use it wisely, be respectful and just enjoy the service.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Mill Woods pilot project took effect immediately after it was announced on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mill Woods is the newest area in Edmonton where shared e-bikes and e-scooters are being introduced.\u00a0 The expansion,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[238439,33276,49,48,23752,87242,295075,219278,218481],"class_list":["post-847565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-aaron-paquette","tag-bike-lanes","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton","tag-mill-woods","tag-parking-area","tag-pilot-project","tag-southeast-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}