E-scooters & e-bikes returning to city streets

Bird e-scooters in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, July 8, 2021. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)

The return of Bird Canada e-scooters and e-bikes in Windsor.

Speaking on AM800’s Mornings with Mike and Meg, mayor Drew Dilkens says the city approved a deal with the e-bike and e-scooter provider on Monday.

“There will be the same number of scooters, but there will be more bikes, and we’re going to have designated areas where you can leave them so it’s not going to be a free-for-all where they’re just left wherever someone wants to stop and sign out of the app,” says Dilkens.

He says Windsor will be like other cities where there are designated parking areas.

“They have designated parking areas for these bikes and scooters, and that way there’s some order to it,” he says. “So when you’re a rider, you’ll actually have to put the device in the designated parking area; you have to take a picture that gets uploaded through the app, and it won’t sign you out of the ride if you’re not parked in the designated parking area. Of course, it has geofencing so it can tell as well.”

Dilkens says the e-scooters and e-bikes will be returning to the city very soon.

“We know people like this; we want to support it,” says Dilkens. “We think it’s a good part of a transportation network, but we got a number of things like that out of this conversation that I think will improve the overall execution of Bird scooters and bikes in our city.”

As AM800 news reported last month, the city paused e-scooter and e-bike rentals from Bird Canada after an agreement between the two parties expired on April 21.

Dilkens previously said the city had some concerns that the company needed to address.

Bird Canada has been in Windsor for the last five years.

The pilot program was an e-scooter and e-bike rental program and was initially launched along the Riverfront Pathway and later expanded to include Windsor’s road rights-of-way and paved pathways within city parks.

In March, the company deployed 450 e-scooters and 100 e-bikes to the region.