The City of Richmond Hill recently held two Public Information Centres to discuss its Micromobility Strategy. The sessions, one in-person on March 4 and the other virtual on March 5, were led by two City staff members alongside two representatives from WSP Canada.

The primary objective was to present initial proposals based on feedback from last year’s consultations. The first portion of the presentation reviewed key points from the previous year, emphasizing the importance of micromobility and its benefits, including accessibility, alternative transportation, and health advantages. It also outlined the current list of vehicles permitted on roads, which remains limited and excludes e-scooters and cargo bikes.

The City detailed proposed changes for different micromobility vehicle classes. Notably, Richmond Hill plans to opt into the provincial e-scooter pilot program. E-bikes, already classified under the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), will not see major changes, though the province is updating its definition of e-bikes.

Other vehicle classes saw minimal updates. The City will not opt into the cargo bike pilot program since it concludes next year but will continue monitoring developments. No changes are planned for golf carts or low-speed vehicles, while hoverboards, unicycles, and skateboards remain under review.

Richmond Hill has either already opted into or is planning to join the provincial e-scooter pilot for personal use. The City is also considering whether to permit e-scooter rideshare services to operate locally.

The presentation addressed where various micromobility devices can be used. While most regulations appeared reasonable, a notable point of contention was the restriction preventing e-scooters from operating on roads with speed limits above 50 km/h. A representative from STRH pointed out the inconsistency, as bicycles traveling at 15-20 km/h are allowed on 60 km/h roads. In response, a City staff member acknowledged the issue, stating that not all laws and regulations have been harmonized yet. It remains unclear whether this restriction is a provincial mandate or a City decision.

Experts expressed concern about the City’s reliance on provincial pilot programs, suggesting that Richmond Hill may be taking a cautious approach to avoid disrupting the status quo while lacking a clear long-term vision for micromobility integration.

Nathan, another STRH member, delivered a compelling speech on the importance of micromobility in Richmond Hill, particularly given the area’s infrequent transit service, which makes public transportation slow and impractical for many trips.

The City also proposed a vague exception for sidewalk riding. Critics argue that any by-law banning bicycles on sidewalks must be clearly defined to prevent enforcement inconsistencies. They also highlighted the differences between suburban and downtown sidewalk usage, which should be taken into account when drafting regulations.

Update: After we published this report, we noticed a huge amount of interest and reaction to the issue. Below you will find a roundup of what micromobility users think about the changes in the City’s strategy.

Mountain bikers think that “throttle assisted” e-bikes destroy dirt trails. Not to mention the heightened danger to hikers. On the other hand, those who disagree say they don’t see how throttle e-bikes destroy these trails anymore than regular bikes, because tires are the same. Damage done on these gravel multi-use trails is due to washout from heavy rains and flooding.

Another criticism comes from some bike riders who are not happy about being pushed into riding on unsafe roads. They say sidewalks around here are empty most of the time, and safely and politely riding around pedestrians should be tolerated, especially when active transportation infrastructure is so far from complete. They also mention cases that a bike is going slow and holding a traffic lineup behind it. The options are to either take an entire lane going at 10 km/h or slower with a huge queue of angry drivers behind or go on the sidewalk and ride at a comfortable speed.

There is also plenty of riders who refuse to ride in the road due to the danger posed by drivers and will only use protected active transportation infrastructure, like sidewalks or raised bike lanes.

Some users stressed that if the city were to implement e-scooter sharing, they need to build more proper infrastructure to support this because the shared e-scooters don’t belong on the sidewalk or on the roadway with cars either. Others agree the road isn’t the best place for e-scooters, including shared ones, but they would still advocate for their right to use the road. Infrastructure for active transportation is far from complete around York Region, and these e-scooters will be of little use if they’re limited to only using bike lanes. At the meeting, City staff noted the proposed by-law would ban them from roads exceeding 50 km/h. However, it’s still permitted to continue cycling safely on roads with 60 km/h limits at 15-25 km/h. It doesn’t make sense, and the City staff themselves admitted this.

There is also the concern about the speed difference and lack of experienced riders (and car drivers on co-existing with them). The difference between bike riding and e-scooter sharing is that the typical user for these services won’t be experienced and likely won’t know what they’re doing, especially in the early stages of implementation when it’s new and pretty much used by new and inexperienced e-scooter riders.

The concern also stems from what we’ve seen happened in the past, last year when Oshawa implemented their e-scooter sharing pilot program, a rider was killed just a month into it when they were struck by a pick-up truck exiting from a gas station while they were riding the e-scooter across the entrance/exit driveway on the sidewalk. In this case, it is mostly the driver at fault here, but as an experienced PEV rider we know that crossing commercial driveways on the sidewalk can be particularly hazardous and we pay a lot of extra attention in these situations, something that an inexperienced rider won’t recognize.

The immediate knee-jerk public reaction was to ban e-scooters, fortunately Oshawa city staff didn’t do that and left the pilot program in place, but we don’t know if Richmond Hill would react similarly if the same thing happened here.