The Town of Okotoks' e-scooter pilot program with Bird Canada came to an end in October.

It was one of several e-scooter pilots in Canada this year, with Okotoks' program seeing relative success.

The program ran from June 1 to Oct. 31, starting with around 30 scooters expanding to 75 by the end.

David Gardner, transit specialist with the town, shared some of the stats.

"It was highly successful, way more than we expected. We did a total of 15,756 rides, and the interesting thing about that was it was spread across 3,203 unique users. Now, when you consider that the population of Okotoks is around somewhere 30,000, potentially that's just over 10 per cent of residents."

According to Gardner, the average ride spanned 3.4km, with the longest ride being 31km.

He says he's aware of a few individuals from out of town who visited Okotoks and made use of the scooters to have a meal and take in some of the sights.

The service area expanded as well, starting in the Northern/downtown parts of Okotoks, and expanding to cover most of the town.

A cap of 75 scooters was set early on, with the town wanting to avoid overcrowding streets and sidewalks with scooters.

Gardner isn't aware of any reported injuries from Bird e-scooters, though it's possible some did occur and either weren't reported or happened with private scooters.

From here, the town is planning to gather some feedback, with a public engagement plan on the way for those who made use of the scooters.

 

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