E-scooters driving local business up as Windsorites roll on in

While e-scootersmay have been met with hesitationwhen theyfirst rolled into town, six months laterbusiness owners and riders say it's helped bridgethe city together.

The City of Windsor is officially half-way through its one year e-scooter pilot project, which began the first week of May. Business owners in Ford City, Sandwich Towne and Ottawa Streetwho spoke with CBC News say the e-scooterhas made them feel more connected to downtown Windsor and emphasized a need for active and accessible forms of transportation.

"[Ford City] really relies on ways to draw people from Walkerville and downtown over to this area and the scooter is that bridge, it allows people to do that,"said Michael Weber, co-owner of Pressure Drop in Ford City.

He saidthe scooters brought customers from different parts of Windsor, who may not have otherwise stopped in,by reducing "a 30 minute walk to five or 10 minutes."

Business owner says e-scooters helping bring in customers

3 years ago

Duration 0:21

Co-owner of Pressure Drop, Michael Weber, says the e-scooters are a sort of active transportation that has helped out his business by attracting more people.

"I think this is part of a larger conversation of how we re-imagine urban transportation to support businesses in older commercial sectors of the city ... people in Windsor do want to support those businesses and I think the scooter and the bikes givepeople in Windsor a new way of doing that," he said.

Rock Bottom and Sandwich Brewery co-owner Nicole Sekela saidshe noticed much of the same.

"It's nice to feel a part of the rest of the city because the [Ambassador] bridge does act as that barrier," she said.

She added that scooters meant people could avoid the hassle of parking or locking up a bike.

Longest ride time in Canada

Though city staff said theyexpect aprogress report on the e-scooter pilot project early next year,CBC News spoke with the company supplying the vehicles in Windsor Bird Canadato seewhat the metrics are showing so far.

Since May, Windsorites have taken more than 135,000 rides and on average spentabout 25 minutes riding the longest ride time in Canada, according to Bird Canada's vice president of strategy and business operations Alexandra Petre.

She saidthis suggests that people might be using the scooters to commute to work or school.

As for the trips, Petre said many are repeat users, with the average rider having about five trips. Despite this the weekly and monthly passes available weren't as popular as the three-day pass.

Petreadded that the most common starting points are downtown Windsorand the Riverfront by the Great Canadian Flag. Riders were then taking the e-scooters from those central spots into other BIAs, such as Walkerville, Via Italia, Sandwich Towne and Ford City.

"We do see a big commuting traffic pattern going north to south, so that's on Ouellette or any other street that's basically going all the way from the Canadian flag all the way to South Windsor," she said.

Bird Canada has also separately partnered up with the University of Windsor to offer the service on campus.

The school's student union president JasleenDayal saidshe knows the scooters are being used by students on campus, particularly residence students,who need to get from one end to the other, as well as helping students explore the city.

"A student complaint I had received often was there was just isn't enough time in between classes ... so now [with the e-scooters], I often see our Human Kinetic students to come down to the main campus in between classes to be able to stop by food services," she said.

'Few' injuries reported

Essex Windsor EMS and Windsor Regional Hospital both said they don't have specific data on e-scooter injuries. Bird Canada told CBC News that it has had "few" injuries reported to them.

According to the City of Windsor, only a "handful" of people have taken part in the equity pricing programming which offers discounted scooter rates for people of lower socioeconomic status.

Not everyone CBC News spoke with was in favour of the e-scooters, at least one business owner said they didn't see people riding them safely, with many driving on the sidewalk versus the road, and saw many e-scooterslying across pedestrian pathways.

Limited access inwinter months

As the temperature continues to drop, Petre said e-scooters will continue to be available but that's dependent on the weather.

If temperatures drop below zero or if there is a significant snow storm, Petre said people may see scooters aroundbut they won't be able to activate and ride them.

Moving forward, Webersaidhe hopes the project continues past the one-year mark, but wants to see the city have conversations on how to create better infrastructure and initiatives, like more Open Streets events,to support these types of transportation.