A dramatic surge in the use of electric battery-powered bi/tri/uni-cycles, scooters, skateboards and the like SHOULD be on the horizon!
These things are cheap, quiet, environmentally-friendly, don’t require a licence or insurance to own or operate, put fun back in transit, and will be allowed (probably with speed/engine-size caps) in bike lanes/paths for safe use apart from auto traffic. With continued fears around the intimate spaces of public transit, they also offer peace of mind for commuting, chores and fun-rides within their ranges.
You might need a car, or you might not. You might recognize how much in time and money it is really costing you to buy/lease, fuel, park, insure and maintain a car, and what stresses you are accepting when you have to engage with hostile traffic or highway environments. Given that 60% of car trips are less than 8 km, there are reasons to look seriously at micromobility devices (I’ll use “MDs” for short) as a complete or partial alternative.
According to McKinsy & Co. MDs, with about $6B global investment so far, are attracting a strong investor and customer base. Their popularity has grown 2-3 times faster than car sharing and ride hailing. McKinsey says MDs could be used for “as much as 50-60% of today’s total passenger miles traveled” in many places in the world. A large uptake in MD usage could take a lot of cars off the road for those less-than-8 km rides. But this is a new and highly competitive market, and MDs are continually being re-engineered for increased range. Ranges of 20 - 30 km on one battery charge are already typical, so we can expect even greater ride utility and possibilities now and in future.
Still, why should we buy or rent one? How can we, and our neighbourhoods, benefit from using one?
First, I should explain that I don’t have a car anymore - I normally bike, take public transit, walk, or (rarely) use a Communauto car. But I’m getting older and, while I will still use the bike for lots of rides to get my exercise, there are some trips (due to length, hilly-ness, unavoidable air pollution, or summer heat) I could do without. I’m also not taking the subway, yet. I want an MD: to go birding way down the lakeshore, to arrive un-sweaty at (even a socially distanced) visit or, when possible, to go downtown again to a performance or volunteer board meetings. So I’ve looked into MDs and done research and certainly thought a lot about what happens when you reduce car usage and increase MD usage. (Let’s consider non-electric bikes/scooters/boards etc., as MDs, since they definitely count! It’s just that, due to the exertion needed, they don’t seem to attract the flood of new users that e-vehicles likely will.) This is what I see:
The environmental benefits:
+ to the extent that the electricity you use to recharge the batteries is relatively low-carbon (as much of Ontario’s is, thankfully), MDs replace cars’ GHGs with a much much smaller carbon footprint (you’re not dragging 2 tonnes of metal around with you). Some even have regenerative braking, which reduces battery usage/recharge.
+ the air gets cleaner from reduced emissions
+ reduced heavy-vehicle usage means roads don’t smell as bad or have to be re-tarred as often
+ motor and tire-generated noise pollution levels are reduced. (Living near a major street as I do, that would be heaven!)
Make city streets work better
+ reduce traffic snarls on heavy routes by pushing some of the usage to bike lanes, or dedicated MD lanes, thus improving the flow of necessary public and transport vehicles
+ free up more road-side parking, and possibly lead to some being eliminated as unnecessary
+ reduce some unwanted traffic on residential streets (when local travel is done on MDs)
Health – of all kinds
+ better air quality for you and those who suffer from pneumatic disorders (Covid, asthma). Even Covid survivors are expected to have long-lasting lung-efficiency problems. I wish we didn’t have to think about further waves of Covid, and even new contagions, but we must. People with compromised lung function, from automotive pollution etc., are harder hit. Even on a financial level, improved health reduces OHIP public health-care costs, reducing our individual contributions.
+ independent transit could improve state of mind if it helps those who aren’t comfortable with the exertion of biking /long walks get outside independently, or it is reduces the stresses of driving or taking public transit
+ there’s a chance of walking being increased when MDs are used to get from homes to parks and local streetscapes - places where we can browse, stroll, wander – especially if those trips would not otherwise have been taken at all.
A more level playing field (reducing the high cost threshold for car use), that provides relatively low-cost access to necessities, medical facilities, government offices, community centres and so on. While MDs (other than mobility scooters) generally require a certain amount of physical stability and equilibrium, they are still available and affordable to many persons of all ages and incomes for:
+ local shopping and eating. That supports local businesses, reduces parking congestion in your neighbourhood, and might eventually clean up its air a bit.
+ commuting to work/school, or as a first/last mile solution in concert with public transit. If you had to walk from the subway or bus stop in the rain or heat anyway, hopping on your micro-ride would get you out of it sooner. You can take it into the workplace for security or use a safety lock, as for a bike. Most MDs are foldable and/or light enough to be rolled/carried small distances.
+ travel for fun with friends or family, to get to an outdoor festival, or play at a park. Alone or together, a lovely day could be better without a gas guzzler for which you have to find parking.
City life/live-ability
I stole most of this from this article by Anthony Eggert, Director of Climate Works Foundation: “… there is one more factor that is difficult to quantify but may turn out to be the most important: the value of providing millions of people, many for the first time, the experience of traveling through a city on a small two-wheeled device. …one becomes acutely aware of the allocation and value of public space for all transportation modes (cars, bikes, transit, pedestrians, and scooters) and the too-often inefficient allocation in favor of the most polluting, space-consuming modes. If even a fraction of micromobility users are motivated to advocate to their local government officials a reallocation of public space toward protected bike and scooter lanes, wider sidewalks, and better transit, the benefits for congestion, health, and livability could be significant.”
If and when you are convinced, then get one and use it. Be an influencer, a trend-setter. Think of how often you’ve seen a bunch of neighbours put up a sign for the same cause (like the current proliferation of “Abby’s rainbows” in my neighbourhood), or copy some type of décor, like the same fancy mailbox I once saw on 5 houses in 1 block! Adopting a mode of transport that serves the world, and using it frequently within your community, will send a message that will be received and copied !!
RESOURCES
Note: There are some counter opinions and anti-MD pieces. But critical thinking is necessary about all game-changing tech, and we need to ask whether the writer has a hidden agenda before accepting old or limited data, or speculation, as “proof” of adverse or out-of-date conclusions. For eg., early stories (like, 2018) mention some MDs as having cheap construction and low operating life-span, but that is old data as durability has dramatically improved given the creation of vehicles designed for both individual use and the hard usage of sharing services, as well as consumer demand. Check out Indiegogo for the industry vibe – it is alive with small groups of energetic MD techies vying to create the best, most popular, MD.
For PHP4C, I think our bottom line is: MD options need to be understood, regulated, promoted and integrated into Toronto’s transportation options. There are lots of issues to consider when regulating: where riding and parking will be explicitly permitted/prohibited, and speed limits, on roads, bike lanes, concrete paths, bike racks, park lawns etc.; helmets; lights; age thresholds; quality of braking systems; motor size. We need to learn from the rise of MD-rental services in the USA and Canada, like Lime, to ensure there is no abuse of public spaces, that renters feel responsible for their conduct, and that low-income users are not disadvantaged when they do not have mobile phones with data to sign in/out of their rental times.
Before rules and regs start flying too fast, however, community groups and the public need to be consulted. We can be a source of ideas and preferences, and raise hyper-local concerns. I would really like to hear your thoughts on this topic and ultimately share them with our elected municipal and provincial officials. Please submit comments for posting, or just to start a conversation, and I will respond when I can.
Social justice and the greater good get the last word, with this quote from the Forbes magazine Jan/20 article
“Micromobility fills an important gap in the urban transportation tapestry and has tremendous potential to not only make city life more convenient but more equitable and inclusive as well. It’s incumbent upon civic and industry leaders to abandon the narrow, technology-driven understandings of micromobility and embrace a broader, humanity-first vision necessary to ensure that the micromobile future includes all and works for all.”
Grace Bedell