Bird, Lime electric scooters returning to Edmonton this spring

Electric scooters will be making their comeback to Edmonton this spring, with Bird and Lime e-scooters to be made available as soon as the weather starts to warm up.

Bird has confirmed their launch for April 1, weather permitting, while Lime says they will be making an announcement once the weather starts to clear up consistently.

“We are very much anticipating the launch of our scooter program in the spring, but we’re still waiting to see when weather allows, when we have more warm weather and looking at that consistent weather pattern for us to be able to launch,” said Alex Youn, spokesperson with Lime.

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According to Youn, Lime’s fleet size will be similar to what their operations were last year which was around 1,500.

Lime will also roll out two new features in Edmonton come springtime, including a group ride, and a multi-ride subscription pass.

Group ride allows riders to unlock up to five electric scooters on the same host account.

“We noticed a large number of riders are riding in groups or want to ride with friends, so the change allows users to let friends and family ride with them,” said Youn.

The Limepass is a weekly subscription pass that offers unlimited free scooter unlocks (a [$1] savings per ride) for seven consecutive days, and the subscription can pay for itself in as little as two to three days.

“Bird e-scooters will return April 1 if the weather allows,” said Alex Petre, General Manager of Bird Canada.

“We are very much hoping the weather will collaborate with us, and that it’ll be nice and sunny and warm enough.”

Bird did not confirm the exact size of their fleet this year, but Petre says the company is ready to meet Edmonton’s demand at the time of their launch.

“We are very excited for all the rides to be taken this year,” said Petre “We do have some new payment plans and we will unveil those on April 1, so riders will be able to get more rides out of the company.”

Both Lime and Bird users will be notified via the app when the scooters are back and ready to ride.