City councillors say province-wide safety regulations and funding are needed to support rollout.
The City of Fort St. John is joining calls for B.C. to end its electric scooter pilot program, and roll out province-wide regulations and the funding to enforce them.
It comes after local residents have expressed safety concerns about the growing use of e-scooters in the city.
“The provincial government does need to step up on this," Mayor Lilia Hansen said during a council meeting this week, the city's last before the Oct. 17 election.
In a July 6 letter, local resident Amber Nyman asked councillors to consider joining the provincial pilot program, launched in 2021.
Joining "could provide the City with a clear legal framework for regulating electric scooter use, educating riders about the rules, and improving enforcement where necessary," Nyman wrote.
Nyman said she has witnessed scooter riders running red lights, speeding past pedestrians without warning, and riding without helmets.
She also raised concerns about children riding scooters and others exceeding the 25 km/h limit set under the pilot program.
"Having defined regulations would help improve safety for everyone who uses our roads, sidewalks, and shared pathways," Nyman said.
But councillors voted against joining the pilot Tuesday.
Jennifer Decker, the city's director of development services, said doing so would require "substantial infrastructure changes," including bike lanes and signage.
Decker said RCMP would be responsible for enforcement, which she says receive more public complaints about people riding dirt bikes in the city.
"They are extremely burdened with the files and the priorities they already have and would need extra resources to even enforce these type of regulations," said Decker.
The province originally launched the e-scooter pilot in six municipalities.
It has since expanded to 40 communities, including Tumbler Ridge, Valemount and Prince George in northern B.C., and has been extended until 2028.
"A seven-year pilot project, wow, that is not a pilot project," Hansen said.
"If they're ... layering this onto the municipality, we definitely need to have support for that."
The Union of B.C. Municipalities recently endorsed a resolution calling for the pilot to end and for province-wide regulations and education programs to be introduced.
The push comes as e-scooter injuries are on the rise across the province.
The B.C. Children Hospital reported 81 ER visits in 2025-26, more than double the previous year. The majority were children aged 13 to 15, despite 16 being the legal age to use e-scooters in B.C.
The province has previously told CBC News it has no plans to change the pilot or its timeline.
Electric scooters remain illegal in Fort St. John. However, councillors have ordered city staff to develop a public education and enforcement campaign with RCMP.
-Matt Preprost CBC Fort St. John
Add comment
Comments