The advocacy non-profit ABC Toronto wants tougher rules on e-bikes and mini-motorcycles, and they have an online petition to push for that
A political advocacy group is calling out the City of Toronto for not doing enough to enforce mini-motorcycle misuse.
A Better City (ABC) Toronto wants more from City Hall on the matter of e-bikes and mini-motorcycles, which are increasingly common on Hogtown’s streets and bike paths. On its website, ABC also has a petition calling for the so-called micro-mobility vehicles to be “licensed, insured and regulated.”
Kelly Aizicowitz, ABC Toronto’s interim executive director, told the Toronto Sun the non-profit group has heard complaints “from many Torontonians” about mini-motorcycles.
While they can be annoying, the issue is primarily about safety, she said.
“They are in the bike lane. They’re on sidewalks,” she said. “We’re also hearing about, they’re being charged in sheds or apartment hallways and catching on fire, and these are all safety issues that need to be addressed.”
Something has to be done
While ABC doesn’t want to discourage things like pedal-assist bikes, Aizicowitz said something has to be done about the big scooters and mopeds that only resemble bicycles at a very superficial level.
“The riders aren’t pedalling. They’re just going really fast and those pedals are there as decoration, essentially,” she said.
ABC’s call comes not long after Councillor Brad Bradford, one of Toronto’s presumed mayoral front-runners, proposed an eight-point crackdown on e-bikes.
“A pedal welded to a mini-motorcycle does not make it a bicycle. A senior on the sidewalk, a parent in the bike lane and a family in an apartment building deserve more than a City Hall that has chosen wilful ignorance over leadership,” Bradford said in an accompanying press release.
His proposal came just before e-bikes were debated at this month’s City Council meeting. The discussion saw some regular political foes, such as Bradford and Councillor Dianne Saxe, broadly in agreement that changes are necessary.
“The basic concept that we should distinguish between electric assist bikes and motorcycles is important and overdue,” Saxe said in the council chamber.
Aizicowitz said that’s good, but the problem is that Toronto’s councillors didn’t decide to do much. What council passed largely consisted of ordering reports and making requests from the provincial government.
‘The problem with council’
“This is the problem with council,” she said, “is there are these long, circuitous discussions about addressing a problem, and it’s just a long circuitous discussion that doesn’t go anywhere and doesn’t actually get anything done. That’s why we are supporting calls to license and regulate these vehicles.”
Part of the problem there is jurisdictional, as when it comes to regulating e-bikes, the province is the government that is primarily responsible – and Queen’s Park has signalled it intends to act.
Even still, Aizicowitz said, Toronto needs better representation at City Hall.
“The current mayor, her relationship with the premier isn’t the best, but on something like this, you would think that, you know, they should be able to find common cause,” she said.
Some of Bradford’s proposals adopted by council
Some of Bradford’s proposals were adopted by council, such as working with local couriers and retailers to get riders to obey the rules of the road.
As well, councillors agreed to ask the province for an “appearance-based exclusion” modelled on Quebec’s rules that “disqualifies motorcycle and moped-styled devices … based on visible features such as footrests, body panels and motorcycle-style wheels.”
Aizicowitz said while Bradford proposed “a smart and prudent approach,” ABC Toronto hasn’t “officially endorsed any candidates and don’t have plans to do that in the near future.”
Beyond the e-bikes issue, Aizicowitz said that ahead of October’s election, ABC Toronto will be advocating for a greater political focus on three issues: public safety and crime, affordability, and gridlock and congestion.
“These are the issues that Torontonians are seized with,” Aizicowitz said, “and they want to see action on.”
Voters go to the polls on Oct. 26.
Originally published by the Toronto Sun: https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/abc-toronto-ebike-motorcycle-not-enough