![\"vespa1\"](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/09\/vespa1.jpg\" "\\"vespa1\\"")
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With the expansion of the use of scooters in the city (Vespa is the most famous brand), I noticed a lot more of these scooters parked on sidewalks this summer.<\/p>\n
Scooters have the potential to be a good thing. If they are replacing a car ride, they take up a lot less space on the road, and the modern versions use far less carbon-emitting fuel and emit fewer pollutants than a car.<\/p>\n
They should not, however, be taking up sidewalk space. At yesterday’s meeting of the Toronto Pedestrian Committee, Sgt. Timothy Burrows of Toronto Police Services noted that it is illegal to park a motor scooter such as a Vespa on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n
Nor is there any need to. In 2005, recognizing the potential good of replacing cars with scooters (and the difficulty of displaying pay-and-display tickets on them), City Council decided that all scooters could park for free in any on-street parking space (metered or pay-and-display). So scooter riders have plenty of parking options without taking up space on sidewalks.<\/p>\n
The rules prohibiting motor scooters from parking on the sidewalk while at the same time allowing them to park on the street for free are not well-known, either to scooter drivers or to parking enforcement officers. It would probably be helpful to everyone to have a public information campaign on the issue so that everyone knows what the rules are, followed by more active enforcement.<\/p>\n
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The situation is a little more complicated for electric-powered scooters (“e-bikes”) that also have vestigial pedals that could theoretically propel them. The province classifies these as “bicycles” and so, technically, they can park on the boulevard (the space between the walking part of the sidewalk and the street), just like a bicycle.<\/p>\n
However, it is illegal for them to park on the sidewalk itself, that is, the space set aside for people to walk. They can be ticketed if they obstruct the walking path.<\/p>\n
But, like scooters, they are also allowed to park in on-street parking spaces for free, so there should not be a need for them to park on the sidewalk. As they are bulky and heavy compared to bicycles, and so create a potential obstacle and hazard to pedestrians, the Pedestrian Committee yesterday asked to have city staff look into ways to keep parked e-bikes off the sidewalk.<\/p>\n
(An interesting side note is that, in theory, it turns out that bicycles are also allowed to park for free in on-street parking spaces. It’s not practical to do so, of course, because there is nothing to lock them to and they are likely to be overlooked and knocked over by cars.\u00a0 But I wonder if that provision could be used somehow by cyclists in some inventive way).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"