Source: Next City

Shared bicycles and electric scooters have become more commonly viewed as urban transportation solutions, yet their success dramatically varies in different cities. About Here examines this contrast across Canada’s three largest cities.

According to the City Transportation Officials’ Shared Micromobility Report, shared scooter and e-bike services have become hugely popular in the USA and Canada, growing from 3.7 million trips in 2013, to 157 million in 2023. In the USA, scooter-sharing is more popular whereas in Canada, bike-sharing accounts for the most trips.

It has been observed that for shared micromobility, some cities witness record-breaking usage and steady growth, as others encounter financial instability and fragmented services.

In a recent video for About Here, Uytae Lee examines the contrasting outcomes of shared micromobility systems across Canada’s three largest cities. His analysis explores why bike-share programs are relatively affordable, widespread, and highly popular in cities like Montreal and Toronto, while remaining costly, limited, or financially vulnerable in others, using Vancouver as an example.

Shared micromobility comparison in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver

From his research, he reported that shared bike and scooter systems thrive in Montreal and Toronto, where strong oversight and investment in integrated systems are maintained, with ongoing government financial support. Ridership for the Bike Share Toronto system has reportedly doubled since the pandemic. Montreal’s shared bike share system recorded 13 million trips in 2024, supported by cheap renting costs, as well as dock stations and cycling lanes being largely incorporated across the city.

Conversely, he found that in Vancouver, shared micromobility is more complex and expensive. Multiple operators serve limited areas of the municipality, and investment is largely left to sharing companies, which also subsidise low-income and senior citizens riding costs. Although they initially received government financial support, this has since ceased, and they are now required to pay the government for parking spaces. In his video, Lee demonstrates the higher bike-sharing costs for riders in Vancouver as being similar to the less sustainable mode of car-sharing.

Lee attributes the disparities between Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver to policy choices, with public ownership models, government subsidies, and coordinated regional planning being key factors in shaping the accessibility, affordability, and overall viability of micromobility services.

The full video can be accessed on YouTube.