E-scooter pilot project takes off July 6 in Montreal and Westmount

Electric scooters are a wildly popular mode of transport in densely-populated European countries like Paris and Italy. Now, they're coming to Montreal. 

Electric-scooter or e-scooter sharing services will be available in the Montreal and Westmount areas on July 6, as part of a pilot project that could eventually be adopted by other municipalities throughout Quebec. 

However, the use of these e-scooters must comply to certain rules and regulations to diminish the possibility of injury. For example, riders using e-scooters under the pilot project will be obliged to wear a helmet at all times and cannot exceed a speed of 20 kilometres an hour. Also, these e-scooters will be restricted to streets where the speed limit is 50 kilometres an hour or less.

These sharing services have become troublesome in some countries, with complaints about abandoned e-scooters littering city sidewalks, blocking traffic and taking up parking spaces. In fact, with the exception of a couple of well-regulated pilot projects, e-scooters are illegal in most Canadian municipalities. It remains to be seen how these sharing services will adapt to Montreal’s infamously rutted and potholed streets.