Calgary's first weekend of Lime scooter relaunch led world in demand

Calgarians weren’t shy about hopping on their shared electric scooters when they returned to city streets last weekend.

According to a release from Lime, our Albertan city led the entire world in demand that weekend, with trips per vehicle coming in at three times the global average.

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The City of Calgary announced leading into the past weekend that it would be allowing the shared escooter back on Calgary’s streets starting that Friday, though limiting the amount of scooters on offer by each company to 150.

The reduction was out of an abundance of caution, a city release stated, though it also noted that bikeshare systems in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal have all operated throughout the pandemic and have not been connected to any COVID-19 transmission cases.

The reduced fleet measure will be in place until June 22, at which time the city will consider increasing fleet size “depending on whether scooter riders adhere to new public safety guidelines during COVID-19.”

According to the Lime release, Lime scooters in Calgary saw an average of seven trips per day during that weekend, which doubled the next closest city.

Half of riders in Calgary rode twice daily, which the release states suggests return trips, and the average rider took trips of around 15 minutes in length.

With the reduced capacity, Lime — and Calgary’s other shared e-scooter supplier, Bird — is operating at just 15% of their usual capacity.

The release also noted that, due to the high demand, 50% of Lime’s scooters had to be recharged by mid-day on Saturday, rather than their regular overnight charging.