Vernon residents are embracing e-scooters and e-bikes, logging more than 170,000 rides in 2022

Photo: Contributed

Vernon residents were scooting all over the city this year.

A report to Vernon city council Monday will outline how popular the bright-orange e-scooters and e-bikes are.

Neuron Mobility launched its fleet of e-scooters in 2021 and added e-bikes in 2022 and people have been taking advantage of the battery-powered forms of transportation.

Neuron Mobility's contract is set to expire on April 1, 2023, but as per the contract, the city has the ability to renew the program for the remainder of the provincial pilot program period, which ends April 5, 2023, but staff are recommending council instruct administration to extend the e-scooter and e-bike sharing contract to April 5, 2024.

Data collected through Neuron Mobility's data tracking app indicates that shared e- scooters/e-bikes are becoming a popular mode of transportation within the City of Vernon:

Between March and August 2022, more than 26,000 riders signed up with Neuron Mobility and more than 170,000 rides were taken on their e-scooters/e-bikes.

Since the program launched in 2021, riders have travelled more than 390,000 km within the operating area saving 25 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Ridership patterns indicate there is a limited fluctuation between weekday and weekend rides and users commonly use the e-scooters for commuting purposes.

In a local user survey distributed by Neuron Mobility in 2021, 53 per cent of riders indicated they used the e-scooters to commute.

These ridership patterns differ from other cities where Neuron Mobility operates where there is a lower ridership during the week and a larger increase of riders on the weekend.

Data collected through Neuron Mobility's user survey in 2021 indicates 40 per cent of rides would have been taken by car if the e-scooter/e-bike share program was unavailable.

The data also showed 53 per cent of users find Neuron an affordable mode of transportation while 93 per cent of users believe Neuron has created a positive impact in the city.

Data on e-scooter-related injury rates is limited, but data available from Neuron Mobility and RCMP indicates that incident rates are lower compared to the global average of eight to 25 injuries per 100,000 trips.

The report states Neuron Mobility data indicates the e-scooters/e-bikes have become a functional, reliable, and economical form of alternative transportation in Vernon.

Ridership data supports the goals of the City's Master Transportation Plan and Climate Action Plan to reduce single-occupancy vehicle use and transition to low-emission forms of transportation.