Bad memory
I have very bad memories of the period when these cluttered our sidewalks. This problem is added to the dangerousness of bicycles traveling in the wrong direction in the streets and everywhere on the sidewalks without regard to pedestrians. I counted eight scooters on the sidewalks of Sherbrooke Street between Papineau and Saint-Urbain on a certain Sunday. Walking in the city will be more and more perilous.
Guy Reny
Handy and easy to use
I’m in my 60s, a rather intense ex-cyclist, now a motorist (my old knees thank me for it). While working abroad, I used an electric scooter for two years for my urban trips. wow! It is a mode of transport that I greatly appreciated, for its maneuverability and its great ease of use. We can’t wait to speed up studies and regulations in order to promote this mode of transport. Dissociate personal use from self-service use. If I’m not mistaken, the bicycle came before the BIXI, didn’t it? Right away, let’s start by allowing the use of scooters throughout the territory; I want to be able to travel for work and for my shopping in complete legality, which is not currently the case. Absurd ! Our leaders are late…
Renald Laurin, Montreal
diabolical gear
I am absolutely against a return of scooters to the city. Our elected officials are decidedly incapable of taking into account realities that are more than obvious: there is almost no respect for the laws and regulations that affect bicycles, so how can we imagine that it would be otherwise for these diabolical machines?
Philippe Forget
The pedestrian is the victim
I have just come from a one-month trip to Norway. A wonderful country where public transport is king: trams, buses, trains and even planes are in the game! Terrifying efficiency! But there is a major problem: the bicycles and also the scooters which circulate everywhere, in the street and on the sidewalks. A real public danger. From Tromsø to Oslo via Bergen and Trondheim, all cities are affected. Let’s not enter this infernal round! It’s not anarchy… it’s hell! Thousands of supposedly ecological vehicles that are left abandoned everywhere in the cities… and that circulate at crazy speeds. The pedestrian is the first victim of this scourge. No is no !
Michael Galarneau
perilous sidewalks
If I use public transport a lot, I am first of all pedestrian, in other words adventurous, if not adventurous. Walk on sidewalks that look like part of a war zone, avoid cyclists, many of whom also ride on sidewalks or bypass stop signs, watch for motorists who, spurred on by the Grand Prix, take streets for a race track and burn, once in two, a stop, these are all obstacles that I am confronted with daily. If we add to that scooters, many of which will travel on sidewalks rather than on bike paths, we will have a good chance of maintaining the sad record of pedestrian deaths in 2022.
Diane Miljours
Priority to public transport
Honestly, taking into account the first attempt which ended in a lamentable failure due to the indiscipline of the users, I find it difficult to understand how time and money can be given to put the electric scooter industry. Perhaps we could focus on improving existing public transport from a climate emergency perspective.
Mark Osborne
A success in Stockholm
I have just come from a trip to Scandinavia. In Stockholm, there are thousands of electric scooters. They are parked in parking lots designed for this purpose and ride exclusively on cycle paths. None on the sidewalks or in the streets. In my opinion, it is a means of transport perfectly adapted to cities when it is well managed and people show respect and good citizenship.
Guy Desroches, Montreal
Adapted to our streets?
Given the state of the streets in Montreal and the size of the wheels of the scooters compared to the many craters, we have to wonder if the emergencies of our hospitals allow us the use of these vehicles by anyone.
Bernard Roy
Disturbing Examples
Having witnessed in Paris, Madrid and Malaga selfish and even frankly dangerous behavior on the part of many users of this mode of transport, I say no, no and again no. If their use was limited to cycle paths, they still pass, but they are used on sidewalks, zigzagging among pedestrians. And once the battery is flat, this devil’s machine is simply abandoned in favor of another.
Pierre D’Astous
We need terminals
I tell you about my experience in Washington this spring in connection with self-service electric scooters. They are very popular and widely used. The problem is that, unlike self-service bicycles, there is no parking terminal where it is mandatory to park them to end the rental period. This causes the problem that they hang around everywhere. It is therefore unpleasant for passers-by, but also for those who wish to rent one. Indeed, previous landlords often used them until the battery ran out. So just because you find a scooter doesn’t mean it’s usable. When two or more people want to take a scooter ride together, it’s hard to find two usable scooters near each other during busy times. There are of course applications to locate them, but it becomes a bit complicated. In short, my opinion is that if they want to extend the project to the rest of the city, it would be necessary to find a parking terminal system that would leave the public space in order and that would allow the scooters to be recharged between uses. It will also be more convenient for maintenance than having to collect all the wandering scooters at night in order to recharge them.
Catherine Dumas