The City of Kamloops is looking to see if it can join the provincial electric kick scooter pilot project, which has been extended by four years to April 2028.

Climate and Sustainability Manager Glen Cheetham told the Livability and Sustainability Select Committee Tuesday that there has been an interest in bringing the pilot – which is currently underway in 13 other communities – to Kamloops.

“E-scooters can add a transportation option for those with limited mobility, limited income, or without a driver’s licence, and they also provide first and last kilometre options to enhance the use of transit or other modes,” Cheetham said.

“Pilot communities gain understanding of how to use or how to safely integrate these with other sustainable transportation modes.”

Cheetham also told the committee that there has been mostly positive feedback to the existing pilot, which began in 2021.

“There has been some concerns for injuries and so on but the attachment [from the province] indicated that those are still considered to be rare events and there are opportunities to minimize them further through program design and policy,” he said.

Cheetham says municipalities that are part of the pilot are able to allow both private (owned by an individual) and shared (owned by short-term rentals like Bird or Lime) e-scooters in their communities. He also noted they could regulate things like maximum speeds on shared paths and areas where these scooters are not permitted.

“While further engagement and evaluation is needed for the Kamloops context, a benefit of a shared-use service is the flexibility and tools it gives municipalities to manage safety, accessibility, and public realm impacts through a contractual agreement with the service provider,” Cheetham said in a report to the Committee.

“I will note that Tourism Kamloops is very interested in the opportunity for potential destination marketing and other programming in our community,” he added during the meeting Tuesday.

Councillor Bill Sarai said while he supported staff looking into the changes, he was hoping to see Tourism Kamloops take on a bigger role in the implementation of the pilot, should it expand to the Tournament Capital.

“Their shelter or trailer downtown, that would be a perfect place for people and tourists to be renting a scooter but I’m also looking at the other side of it where we have individuals that are riding their accessible wheelchairs down sidewalks and not caring about pedestrians and seniors and children,” Sarai said.

“I think a pilot would be a great start [with] someone established that could monitor it and oversee it on our behalf. Just having someone come in from their company that doesn’t have any roots or any responsibility to our city, I would have difficulty supporting that.”

Cheetham said those concerns – and other potential conflicts that may arise with pedestrians and other users of the road – will be looked at by City staff as part of their review.

“The recommendation is really for us to go back and look at this a little more closely, to engage with community groups and even potentially putting together a bit of a working group which Tourism Kamloops would be a part of,” Cheetham said.

“There is no decision being made about the design or the approach of the program. We have to consult a lot of folks but what we intend to bring back to council after doing that work is some options.”

At this time, it is not clear when those recommendations will be brought before City Council for a decision.

As it stands, city bylaws do not allow the use of in-line skates, skateboards, or scooters on major arterial roads as well as sidewalks and public walkways in Kamloops.

People who are found in violation could be fined between $25 and $2,000 and their skates, skateboards, or scooters could be temporarily seized, though Radio NL understands the bylaw isn’t actively enforced.

Cheetham also told Radio NL that the bylaw will likely need to be amended, repealed, or temporarily suspended if Kamloops is to join the pilot program.

“Local governments are permitted to have bylaws that might be a little more restrictive than the provincial regulations in terms of where these devices can be used, as long as its consistent with those provincial regulations,” Cheetham said on NL Newsday.

“I would guess that in its current state our current bylaw may not be consistent and so it may benefit from a review,

The provincial government says results of the pilots will determine whether e-scooters will be authorized for permanent use in B.C. communities.