Bonjour-Hi 👋
Bienvenue-Welcome back to Lane Split!
This month you’ll get a rundown of shared mobility launches and the next steps Canadian cities are taking to prepare for what’s next in new + sustainable + micro + shared mobility.
Launches 🚀
Ottawa, ON carshare provider 🚗 Communauto partners with public housing to provide discounted service to low-income individuals.
Breakdowns💣
Kelowna, BC sees Spin suspend shared ⚡🚲 and 🛴 operations and leave Canada. Spin laid off half of its head office staff, joining other micro-mobility providers like Tier, Bird, Superpedestrian and Voi, who have conducted similar layoffs in recent months.
With Spin pulling out of Canada, they join a long list of shared mobility companies that have left or ceased bidding on shared micromobility RFPs in Canada, including Helbiz, Superpedestrian, Lime and Roll. Bird and Neuron are the only ones still applying and pursuing bids in Canada lately.
Pre-ride Checklist ✔️
British Columbia ⛰️ announces four new cities received permission to participate in its e-scooter pilot, including Osoyoos, Oliver, Coquitlam, and Langley. Both Qualicum Beach and Saanich, BC have now requested an addition to the program in the future.
West Vancouver, BC passed an ⚡🚲 rebate for residents with up to 1500 dollars back on their purchase. This aligns with other Metro Vancouver communities and the District of Saanich’s ⚡🚲 rebate.
Hamilton, ON announces plans to add 100 ⚡🚲 to their existing bikeshare system in 2023. Hamilton is the last of the legacy bikeshare systems without e-bikes in Canada.
Hamilton, ON selects Bird Canada as the exclusive provider of shared 🛴 service.
Toronto, ON adopted the four-year growth plan for Bikeshare Toronto to grow to over 1,000 stations and 10,000 🚲 with 20% of the fleet as ⚡🚲. Though there have been challenges to the roll-out of ⚡🚲 thus far.
British Columbia ⛰️ only delivered licences for Uber to operate ride-hailing service in the Vancouver area. When Uber tried earlier in the year to expand to Victoria and Kelowna, they were blocked by provincial regulators. Now Uber’s strategy involves buying an unused ride-hail license and converting it to deliver service in these communities.
Saskatchewan amends the rules for e-scooters to allow them on roads. Now all 🇨🇦 provinces with more than a million residents have made the change.
📚 Reading List
Here’s what I’m reading this month:
The Su$tainable Mobility Newsletter - A great read. All about the 💵 in sustainable transportation.
Uber’s data breach cover-up led to jail time for those involved. A landmark case in shared mobility privacy law 👩⚖️.
A new study of e-scooter injury rates finds collisions rise predominantly in cities with high car densities and hardly at all in those well-adapted to 🚲 (ie. lots of bike lanes).
Can Technology 📸 Help Cities Manage Curbs Better? - New York Times
That’s all for this month, but stay tuned:
The next issue will be out the first week of November- just enough time to catch top-of-the-month announcements.
This is a free newsletter - so if you enjoyed it, help it grow by giving a share to your network - whether they’re shared mobility 👼 evangelists or 😈 skeptics, this will save them the hassle of a dozen news-alerts.
If you have any feedback - you can message me on Twitter. I’d love to know your thoughts - comments, critiques, or what you’d like to see included in the next issue.
Until next time. - À la prochaine.
Cheers,
Matt Worona