Fuel costs hurting your budget? Lethbridge introduces scooters and e-bikes
If the high cost of gas is getting you down, the City of Lethbridge may have an answer to your problems.
In the coming weeks, residents will soon see a fleet of scooters and e-bikes on city streets as part of a new pilot project to offer alternative forms of transportation other than passenger vehicles.
Neuron Mobility is the company in charge of the rollout after the program was approved last year.
It says the scooters and bikes have worked well in other Alberta communities, such as Red Deer.
"People love these things there," said Ankush Karwal, regional manager for Neuron Mobility in Canada.
"They get out on the trail system, they get out to do their shopping, commute to work, and we see them being used across all days of the week."
Riders must be at least 18 years old and require a smartphone to access an app to locate, pay for and unlock an e-scooter to use it in a designated area.
Single trips cost just over a dollar to start and then 35 cents per minute for the duration of the ride. Weekly and monthly plans are also available.
Neuron expects to be in Lethbridge for at least two years and operate as long as possible throughout the year.
Transit ridership in Lethbridge surged in the first full week of school in early September.
RIDERSHIP UP ON TRANSIT
Meanwhile, there are a lot more residents getting on the bus to get around town, Lethbridge Transit says.
According to data collected over the past month, the service says ridership has increased by 26 per cent.
While officials say some of the increase can be attributed to warmer weather, high gas prices are also why.
"What we're doing is comparing the first three months of this year to the last three months of last year, so is every one of those percentages attributable to gas prices? I don't know if anybody could say that, but it is a very definite trend as to when gas prices started going up," said Lethbridge Transit's general manager Timothy Sanderson.
While the latest gas prices put fuel prices at just under $1.70 per litre in Lethbridge, the cost for a transit ride is $3 while a monthly pass is $77.
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