Residents of Lacombe will have another means to get around town beginning in July.
Lacombe City Council approved a pilot project to launch a new shared micro-mobility program in the community, starting in summer 2022.
“Council is excited to approve this project, allowing Roll’s E-Scooters into our community,” Mayor Grant Creasey said. “This unique transportation model has proven popular, convenient, and functional in many communities throughout the country, and I am confident our residents will benefit from this new transportation option. I look forward to seeing our citizens safely use these E-Scooters throughout our paths, sidewalks, and roads.”
Council’s endorsement permits Roll Technologies Inc. (Roll) to pilot their E-Scooters in the city for a period of two years, at their own cost.
The approval stipulates that scooters can travel no faster than 20 km per hour and are allowed on paved trails, empty sidewalks, and roadways with a speed limit of 50 km per hour or lower. Scooters are not permitted on highways and users must be over the age of 16 years old to ride.
The scooters will run on an app-based program, where users scan a QR code to gain access to a scooter. Roll will work with the city to determine slow-speed, no-ride, and no-parking zones and riders are permitted to drive anywhere within the designated service area and subsequently park the scooter anywhere within that same area.
Riders can request a free helmet shipped to them via the Roll website and Roll also uses cognitive tests to prevent drunk driving.
A patrol team will be responsible for picking up, relocating improperly parked scooters and ensuring they are charged and ready for use.
The launch day for the project will be announced in the upcoming weeks but council said that they estimate they will be available to riders in July.