Essex could be looking at new rules governing e-scooters and e-bikes.
At its final meeting of the 2022-26 term on Monday night, council approved a motion from Mayor Sherry Bondy directing administration to work with the OPP and neighbouring municipalities and report back on whether new bylaws, or changes to existing ones, are needed.
The report is expected to look at what neighbouring municipalities are doing and whether Essex needs its own rules governing e-scooter and e-bike use.
Bondy said the discussion came out of the local OPP board and isn’t about keeping the devices off Essex streets.
“This is not something that is against e-scooters or e-bikes. We currently don’t have anything, so in theory, they’re not even allowed,” Bondy said.
She said the town needs to consider how the devices fit into public spaces.
“We want to allow them, but we also want to allow them in a safe manner. Perhaps maybe they shouldn’t be going down our sidewalks at 50 kilometres an hour where people are also walking,” said Bondy.
Administration told council e-bikes are treated like regular bicycles, but the situation is different for e-scooters.
The town would have to take part in Ontario’s pilot program and establish a bylaw before they can be permitted locally.
While administration says it hasn’t seen reported problems across the municipality, CAO Kate Giurissevich said police have flagged some safety concerns.
“At our monthly OPP touchpoints they did raise this as well that they’ve noted unsafe use of some of the e-scooters, particularly in our downtown core area was the area that they mentioned. They did charge someone in our municipality as well. It was a person under 16 not wearing a helmet,” Giurissevich said.
Council also asked administration to consider feedback from active transportation groups as part of that work.