Education and Outreach

E-Mobility Manager, Angela Jarvis, was aware at the outset that once the City was part of the Provincial kick e-scooter pilot, they had to do broad education and outreach to the community based on the associated temporary changes to the motor vehicle act. “Whether someone was going to be operating a private e-scooter or one of the shared devices, we had to make sure residents were aware of safety measures, rules, and etiquette,” explains Jarvis. “We started fulsome communications early and made in-person test ride and education events part of our contract with operators.”  Together, the City and operators delivered 14 in-person safety and education events to residents. Jarvis was also aware that the program required collaboration from other City departments. “There was internal concern about pedestrian safety, rightly so, on multi-use paths especially through parks. We were able to talk to our colleagues about the tools and rules we had in place to enhance safety, like geofencing technology that automatically lowers the allowable speed on a device in certain areas.”

Resident Concerns

Like other programs, resident complaints and service requests peaked in the early months of the program, but leveled out over time as adjustments were made and both users and the public became more aware of proper operations. Jarvis does highlight the learnings about what the community believes is acceptable in terms of aesthetics and accessibility, and the need to make appropriate accommodations and adjustments when needed. To that end, she and the project team collaborated with their communications department to gather data beyond the official city channels. This “communications sentiment analysis” monitored unofficial city channels to get a sense of the actual vibe of community beyond service requests and surveys. “This was helpful data to have to illustrate in our reports [to council] that we had a pulse on the broader community and heard the sentiments of residents who are not directly engaged with the program.” Having this sentiment data often contextualized service requests and complaints within the broader conversation of transportation behaviour and the unavoidable process of normalizing micromobility withing the community’s landscape. “Do what you can to adapt the program based on what your community is saying,” advises Jarvis, “but remember to contextualize non-compliance behaviour alongside others that are commonly accommodated or normalized.”