E-Scooters and Bikes | They're Here

The summer of 2026 has been the year that e-scooters and bikes went from something advocates were predicting would be a big deal, to an obvious reality to everyday Manitobans. The conditions have been right for an uptick: we’re in the midst of an affordability crisis where more and more people are looking for alternatives to driving. As demand has soared, availability has gone beyond European export to incredibly cheap options being available on dubious websites, like Temu. 

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If you’ve been passed by a soaring e-bike or nearly run off the sidewalk by an e-scooter, you’re probably saying “the city ought to have some rules about this!!”

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CURRENT REALITY

Municipalities have been requesting that the province update the Highway Traffic Act for years to allow for micromobility options, like e-scooters, to be regulated under by-laws. Here in the City of Winnipeg we operate under The City of Winnipeg Charter, so we have to wait for the provincial law to update the HTA before moving forward. . 

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This has created the “Wild West” environment we’re in now. 

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TENSIONS

The news this summer has been full of bad behaviour stories around e-scooters and bikes, and it’s easy to understand why. The lack of regulation means that there isn’t a public awareness campaign about how to use these items properly. There’s no regulation about things like maximum speed, so we don’t have any controls on items at the border. And as Patty Wiens recently noted in this Winnipeg Free Press story on e-rides: “It’s not a replacement for a bike,” she said. “It’s a replacement for a car.” Folks who are riding these devices are often using bike lanes and trails for the first time. 

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It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon of finger-pointing (the Globe & Mail recently called e-scooters a “scourge”!), but the reality is that e-rides have the potential to improve our transportation options substantially. In Winnipeg, we need to reach a 50% driving mode share by 2050. This means that 50% of trips need to be made by walking, cycling, transit or carpooling. Our current 80% driving mode share is a long way away. Could these e-rides be a good tool?

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I first rode an e-scooter back in about 2018. My main job is as the publisher at Great Plains Press and I was in Frankfurt for the book fair. Frankfurt has AMAZING public transit. But, where I was staying was around a kilometer from the fair. Not really far enough to bother hopping on a streetcar or subway, but far enough that walking back and forth was a slog. Here is where e-scooters thrive!

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THE FIRST AND LAST MILE

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Parked near where I was staying was a spot for Lime e-scooters. I was intrigued, so I downloaded the app, created an account, and took one for a spin to test it out. I was glad I did!

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E-scooter appeal:

• They are easy to ride. Your centre of gravity is low, making them very sturdy and easy to balance on. You need to know how to ride a bike to ride a bike, but riding an e-scooter is more intuitive. 
• I could ride with my bag on my shoulder. 
• Faster than walking, but not too fast. In Germany, speed is regulated. The scooter company had to ensure their items couldn’t exceed the local limit. You can even restrict them from certain areas (geofencing shuts them down in certain zones.)
• I had great infrastructure. Studies show e-scooter riders don’t want to be on the road, nor do they want to be on the sidewalk. The most preferred infrastructure is bike lanes, and Germany had already been building out its cycling network long before e-scooters entered the scene.

Image: A Survey of Electric-Scooter Riders’ Route Choice, Safety Perception, and Helmet Use. 

• I didn’t need special equipment. Helmet use is encouraged, but I didn’t need to own a helmet, or have to rent one (gross) or risk a fine. Because the infrastructure is so safe and speeds are regulated, e-scooters are seen, like walking and bicycle riding, as just another perfectly safe way to get around outside of a personal vehicle. 
• When I parked, I had to take a picture proving that I followed the parking rules before my booking was complete. It’s very clear where an appropriate parking spot is and isn’t, as e-scooters were just part of the culture in Germany already (and that was eight years ago now!)

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OPPORTUNITIES

Manitoba’s sprawling cities have an incredible opportunity with the adoption of e-scooters and e-bike riders. I’ll use Winnipeg as an example, but many of these opportunities apply across the province.

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Quick access to frequent, fast transit. 

Our spine and feeder network, with limited operating funds, means that having more options for folks to get to F, FX or RT lines without needing a feeder bus is ideal. We need safe, convenient routes to these bus stops, and the stops need to have ample safe and secure parking. All F, FX and RT buses should have bike racks so those with e-bikes can take them to their destination. 

Most trips are actually short

In 2016, Statistics Canada data showed that Winnipeggers had some of the shortest trips in all of Canada at 6.6 kms. And yet, our use of personal vehicles for our trips remains stubbornly high. Not only is this, honestly, deeply embarrassing, it's also a burden on our emissions and costs (personal vehicles are incredibly expensive for both the drivers as well as the municipality). As mentioned above, e-riders are not people moving from bikes to e-rides, they are people replacing car trips. We need to encourage this adoption as much as we can!

Cost

Owning a car in Canada is getting more and more expensive. In 2016 the cost to travel by personal vehicle was $8-12,000 a year. Since then, we’ve seen an incredible increase in gas prices, so I’m going to imagine the next stats data is going to show the cost of personal vehicles rising. Even high quality, expensive e-bikes are a fraction of the cost of personal vehicles. If we want to make life more affordable for Manitobans, our governments need to make it easy to shed household vehicles for e-rides.  

Age and ability

E-rides make it much easier for seniors and those with disabilities to get around. Some e-scooters have seats for those who can’t stand for long. Seniors are a major reason that e-bike sales are booming!

No sweat

E-rides make it easy to leave the car behind. While an "acoustic" bike is great for short trips, e-bikes make longer trips a breeze. Add a cargo element to the trip and even large grocery trips are a cinch!

Wind

We do have a windy city and I have certainly been fighting the gusts, whether in summer or winter. As I’m grinding along, I’ll often be passed by an e-bike rider moving ahead with ease. Jealous!

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NEXT STEPS

We need the province to amend the Highway Traffic Act (HTA) as soon as possible so cities can move forward. The City of Winnipeg is already laying the groundwork to get started. 

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SUPPORT LOCAL

CanRover is a local company that has been advocating and waiting for these HTA updates for several years. Having a local company running an e-bike and e-scooter service is a wonderful opportunity. While companies like Lime can drop a lot of vehicles quickly into a city, a company based in the city has more of an investment in ensuring good adoption and following local rules.

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As local by-laws continue in limbo, CanRover is moving forward with a pilot on the University of Manitoba campus. We look forward to checking it out and hearing how it goes!

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COMMON COURTESY

Even though we don’t yet have formal “rules” for e-rides, here are our recommendations for anyone using a bike lane, trail or path:

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• Keep an eye out for other users
• Ring your bell or otherwise alert those you are approaching from behind
• Keep your speed to 25 km/hr or less
• Slow down to pass
• Ride defensively and respectfully

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Remember, many e-riders might be using this infrastructure for the first time. Try to address tensions firmly but generously. We want new users to ride safely and respectfully, but of course, we want them to keep riding instead of driving.

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We all want to get to where we are going safely no matter how we travel. Stay safe, have fun and enjoy the journey out there. 

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