Delivery drivers, like this one in downtown Toronto, often rely on scooters and other 'micromobility' solutions to get around urban areas quickly. Depending on the vehicle's features, they may or may not need license and registration like what they would normally get for a motorcycle.Yader Guzman/The Globe and Mail
On a Sunday afternoon in the summer, Toronto’s busiest streets and pathways are abuzz with electric mobility devices whose riders zip beside moving cars and weave around pedestrians.
Among them is Pema Namgyal. He drives his electric moped to Sir Casimir Gzowski Park, along the city’s Great Lakes Waterfront Trail, and rests it by its kickstand outside of a pavilion. The smell of an outdoor barbecue permeates the air surrounding the shelter, where Mr. Namgyal gathers with his family for a weekend picnic.
During the week, he rides his e-moped twice a day for the six-kilometre commute to and from the food processing facility where he works. He purchased his e-moped four months ago for $3,500 and loves the ease the device affords. While he has his driver’s license, his e-moped has no license plate and doesn’t require a license to drive it. Mr. Namgyal said it can reach up to 60 kilometres an hour, but he usually only drives around 35 km/h.
His e-moped looks just like any other moped. But in several provinces, including Ontario, two auxiliary pedals poking out near its rear wheel mean, in the eyes of the seller, the vehicle can be regulated provincially as an e-bike and dodge licensing and registration requirements for traditional mopeds or motorcycles – despite reaching speeds greater than the federal standard for an e-bike’s maximum speed, which is 32 km/h.
However, if his daily commute took place in Quebec, a provincial regulation introduced at the end of July would subject him to a fine of between $300 to $600.
Citing safety risks posed by the size and speed of these devices, the province has made it illegal to operate two- or three-wheeled motor vehicles, with or without pedals, that resemble a motorcycle or moped – but don’t bear a federal safety certification mark – on public roadways, including bike lanes.
The province said the move is also in fairness to owners of regulated motorcycles, mopeds or scooters, which are registered, insured and driven by licensed riders. Its policy specifically weeds out non-compliant vehicles, such as Mr. Namgyal’s, that are sold with manual pedals attached, portrayed as a bicycle, and avoid regulatory hurdles.
These vehicles are part of an influx of micromobility in Canada that is thriving in a grey area within cities’ policies and infrastructure.
As provincial and municipal governments update their regulations to control the safe usage of these devices, safe mobility advocates are calling upon policy-makers to ensure cities have space for them because of their low carbon footprint, cost-effectiveness and relative low risk to pedestrians, when compared to larger vehicles.
Many of these devices don’t require a license to operate and have become synonymous with gig workers in industries such as food delivery, where the need to get around quickly and cheaply in urban areas is vital.
A pedal-less vehicle like this one in Calgary is typically called an e-scooter, in contrast to an e-bike or e-moped, though the legal terminology around micromobility varies from province to province.Jeff McIntosh/The Globe and Mail
E-vehicles: A spotter's guide
E-SCOOTER
E-BIKE
E-MOPED
(With or without pedals)
E-MOTORCYCLE
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
E-vehicles: A spotter's guide
E-SCOOTER
E-BIKE
E-MOPED
(With or without pedals)
E-MOTORCYCLE
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
E-vehicles: A spotter's guide
E-BIKE
E-SCOOTER
E-MOTORCYCLE
E-MOPED
(With or without pedals)
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Over the past two decades, demand for electric micromobility devices, such as scooters, mopeds and e-bikes, has taken off. An industry report states the e-bike market is expected to reach $345-million by 2025 with a 7.5-per-cent compound annual growth rate. That would be an increase of $105-million from 2022. The report also estimates the number of e-bikes sold in Canada will rise from 70,000 units in 2022, to more than 100,000 annually by 2025.
In February, 2021, the federal government repealed its definition of e-bikes from the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations, citing their design for primarily off-road or recreational use. This means it no longer regulates these devices at manufacturing and importation because they don’t fall into a prescribed class of vehicles.
Now, Transport Canada says it assesses the devices based on their on-road versus off-road characteristics, regardless of speed. If they are equipped with features that resemble a motorcycle, moped or any other vehicle within a prescribed class, the government says it regulates them accordingly.
But Michael Parrish, a partner at Fasken law firm in Vancouver, said a lack of a national standard for the design, manufacture and safety of e-bikes has effectively left regulation to provincial governments and created challenges for manufacturers, sellers and riders.
He said the patchwork of provincial laws that exists to govern the use of e-bikes on provincial roads often places the burden of responsibility on the consumer to know what models are allowed and where. “The problem with the provincial regulation is that they’re not regulating the product. Or the sellers of the product. They’re only regulating the user,” Mr. Parrish said.
Sau Sau Liu, senior communications adviser with Transport Canada, said the federal government is reviewing issues surrounding micromobility vehicles, such as maximum speed allowances, vehicle classification, and the need for licensing and registration, as part of a working group established by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators. The work is expected to wrap up in the next 12 to 15 months.
This rider is in Vancouver, where B.C. allows 'light e-bikes' to go up to 25 km/h, versus 32 km/h for a 'standard e-bike.' The task of classifying and regulating such vehicles has largely fallen to provinces.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Mr. Parrish said at their core, many of the provincial laws governing e-bikes – the most commonly regulated micromobility device – are similar, including that they can’t have a motor that exceeds 500 watts, they must have a maximum speed of 32 km/h and they must have operational pedals.
But with an increasing number of motorcycle and moped-style devices imported and sold across the country with auxiliary pedals attached to appease provincial e-bike regulations, consumers are being told they’re investing in something that’s classified as an e-bike, so long as they don’t drive it at its maximum speed.
“It has fallen on the provinces to regulate e-bikes, but their ability to regulate them is largely limited to what they can do constitutionally, which is basically regulate how they are used on the roads,” Mr. Parrish said.
Municipalities also play a role in regulating these electric devices, setting bylaws and designing city infrastructure where the devices are used. Paul Storer, director of transportation for the city of Vancouver, said provincial legislation has helped shape Vancouver’s approach to the devices, but he can see how consistency at a national level would help guarantee more of the devices on streets are legal.
Charissa Iogna, senior project manager for the City of Toronto’s Transport Services, said city staff are asking the federal government to develop safety and technical standards for micromobility devices to prevent non-compliant vehicles from entering the Canadian market.
She said a lack of federal market regulations leads to inconsistencies in the specifications of devices for sale, making it difficult for consumers to know whether they can legally operate their device in any given municipality.
E-vehicles are not allowed in this summer pedestrian zone on Montreal's Mount-Royal Street, but even on regular roads, drivers can run into legal trouble if their vehicle looks like a motorcycle or moped.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
Quebec’s new law is unique from other provinces because it regulates e-bikes based on appearance, rather than specifications such as speed or motor size, Mr. Parrish said.
In Ontario, the standard limits for speed and power – 32 km/h and 500W – apply to e-bikes, which are defined as having a handlebar for steering, working pedals, two or three wheels, an electric motor and braking systems. If the pedals are removed, legislation dictates the bicycle then becomes a motor vehicle and requires a licence, insurance and registration to use. The province notes it’s illegal to modify a bike to increase its speed.
In British Columbia, the rules are very similar, save for a new category the province made effective in April called a “light e-bike.” These bikes can only travel up to 25 km/h and riders as young as 14 years old can operate them on a highway – two years younger than the operating age for a standard e-bike.
Both Saskatchewan and Manitoba have similar laws and specify that muscular power applied to pedals must be part of what propels the device. A guide published by the Alberta government in April, 2023, includes the average power and speed requirements for mopeds and e-bikes but does not specify whether pedals are required.
Instead, it refers to Transport Canada’s definitions for limited-speed motorcycles and power-assisted bicycles, the latter of which was revoked two years prior to the guide’s publication.
Prince Edward Island, like Quebec, has paid specific attention to outlining in its legislation that “motorcycle-like” or “moped-like” vehicles are not e-bikes – with or without pedals attached.
The province’s definition of a power-assisted bicycle specifies that it must have an “exposed fork and frame” design, further eliminating the potential for a moped or motorcycle style device to disguise itself as something resembling a traditional bicycle. In 2021, the province developed new power-assisted bicycle regulations as part of its Highway Traffic Act.
Across the rest of the country, provincial and territorial laws bear resemblance to each other and many reference the power and speed limits for e-bikes laid out by the federal government.
Electric vehicles, whose makers bill them as more environmentally friendly, loom large in cities' strategies to decarbonize.Yader Guzman/The Globe and Mail
While provinces and municipalities search for ways to regulate the industry and colour in grey areas with new legislation, some micromobility advocates say the devices belong on Canadian roads because of their potential for reducing traffic and carbon emissions. But policy-makers need to find a way to make their presence work, without compromising on public safety.
Magali Bebronne, director of programs for Vélo Québec, said she supports Quebec’s decision to govern the use of these moped or motorcycle-style devices in bike lanes, where their weight poses a risk of severe damage in the event of a collision. But she doesn’t necessarily think they need to be kept off of roads entirely.
“These devices were trying to pass as e-bikes and therefore riding on the bike network alongside our traditional bike network users. And it was pretty well documented that these users didn’t feel comfortable sharing the path with these kinds of devices,” she said.
Considering their electric nature, she said micromobility devices are useful for a shift toward carbon-light modes of transportation, as long as they’re not putting other bike path or road users at risk.
“E-scooters, e-bikes and all these devices, they’re here to stay and there’s just going to be a growing number of them. So, cities have to take that into consideration and be braver in the reallocation of public road space,” Ms. Bebronne said.
Some safety advocates argue that making cities less dependent on cars will have a better impact than crackdowns on e-vehicles.Chuck Stoody/The Canadian Press
Lucy Maloney, a road safety advocate with Vision Zero Vancouver, said the dangers posed by electric micromobility devices pale in comparison to those posed by cars. She said she’d like to see policy-makers focused on redesigning city spaces, rather than keeping the low-carbon vehicles off of streets and pathways.
“The space allocated to car movement and storage is often not questioned. And often we frustratingly see e-scooters and pedestrians and cyclists set off against each other in competition for the inadequate space that is allocated to the safe movement of micromobility,” Ms. Maloney said.
The cheaper, more accessible lifestyle these devices offer some people matters, she said, and is something those tasked with regulating them need to pay sincere attention to.
“From a policy point of view, they’re good, and we’ve got to find a way of keeping their users safe on the road,” she said.
Mr. Storer said in Vancouver, the devices, for the most part, fit pretty well into the city’s urban cycling infrastructure. While the integration of micromobility is a learning curve for many cities across Canada, he said it’s one he’s happy is taking place.
“If they’re growing and they’re taking away from vehicle trips, that could be pretty positive for our transportation network as long as we continue to see them operate safely and have safe places for them to go,” he said.
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