Richmond first to launch e-scooter sharing in Metro Vancouver


22 June 2022

The City of Richmond is celebrating its commitment to accessible sustainable, low carbon, person mobility options by being the first in Metro Vancouver to offer a shared electric kick scooter (e-scooter) service. The City selected Lime to fulfill the program, which soft launched, along with electric bikes (e-bikes) last month. Since then, riders have wasted no time to download the app and start riding.

City Council was joined today by Richmond RCMP, Lime and HUB Cycling to celebrate the installation of 85 e-scooters, 10 e-bikes and 25 parking corrals to Richmond’s city centre zone.

In the month, since Lime soft launched in early May, nearly 3,500 Lime e-scooter and e-bike trips have been made, and a total distance of 8,500 km was covered. This demonstrates our community’s interest in these new, sustainable micromobility travel options,

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a top priority for Council, and one of the ways to contribute to this is to remove barriers to more sustainable, low carbon personal mobility options,” says Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “A testament to this commitment is our introduction of e bike and e-scooter sharing through the provincial pilot program. With this comes an unwavering focus on, and commitment to, safety. Safety for the e-device operators and those who share the road and pathways with e-scooters.”

“Lime is deeply grateful to the City of Richmond for its vision and leadership in launching a multimodal micromobility program, and its early success shows the potential this has to lead the way forward throughout B.C. and all of Canada,” said Chris Iuvancigh, General Manager, Lime. The early results are in and Richmond residents and visitors have absolutely been welcoming, choosing our carbon-free electric e-scooters and e-bikes to get around.”

“We fully support this green initiative and the direction the City of Richmond is striving towards,” says Chief Superintendent Dave Chauhan, Officer-in-Charge, Richmond RCMP Detachment. “These are exciting times. We do remind everyone to please familiarize yourselves with the rules to allow all users to enjoy our roadways safely”

Provincial regulations require all riders must wear a helmet, must not ride on sidewalks, and be of a minimum age. City bylaws identify the conditions of where and how e-scooter users may operate during the pilot project, to enable a safe introduction.

Within Richmond, e-scooters are only permitted to operate on:

  • designated cycling lanes
  • local streets defined as a street without lane lines or a directional dividing line with a speed limit of 50 km/h or less
  • streets with a directional dividing line and a maximum speed of 30 km per hour
  • off-street paved pathways next to the roadway or in parks that are signed or marked for shared use

E-scooters must not operate on sidewalks at any time.

Maximum speeds limits vary:

  • on roadways the maximum speed is 20 km/hour
  • on shared pathways the maximum speed is 15 km/hour (this applies to e-bikes as well)
  • in the presence of pedestrians on a shared pathways, riders must slow to a walking speed.

E-scooter riders must be a minimum of 16 years old (Lime requires riders to be a minimum of 18 years old.), must wear a helmet and must not carry passengers. Riders are not required to hold a driver’s licence.

E-bike riders must abide by cycling road safety rules.

  • Training is offered to new e-scooter and e-bike users in the following ways:
  • Lime sets the e-scooters to a training mode for a first-time user’s first three trips. This limits the speed to enhance new rider confidence, comfort and safety.
  • Through the Lime app, free “First Ride Academy” courses are available via HUB Cycling.

Unsafe riding behaviour should be reported to the Richmond RCMP non-emergency phone line at 604 278 1212. Fines for infractions can be costly.

Richmond selected Lime in September 2021, to supply the sharing of these micromobility vehicles, following the City being selected by the Province of B.C. to participate in their three-year e-scooter pilot program.

Lime is only one alternative to e-scooter in Richmond. Privately owned e-scooters have been permitted since July 2021 under the provincial pilot program.

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