SASKATOON -- An electric scooter company that’s operating in Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal is looking to roll into Saskatchewan.

Lime, headquartered in California, has been in contact with the Saskatchewan government as well as city officials in Saskatoon and Regina to discuss the possibility of bringing an e-scooter pilot program to the province.

“Talking about this space, micro-mobility, where things are heading, and how residents locally are looking for options for different ways to move in and around their city that primarily isn’t a car that contributes to traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, but is something that is more sustainable like an electric scooter,” said Chris Schafer, senior director of strategic development at Lime Canada.

Escape Sports in Saskatoon is already on the trend. Co-owner Marcus Storey said they’ve had lots of success selling electric scooters.

"It's a growing market; it's interesting to see what's happening in other cities with the rental programs. It's just going to make it more comfortable for people. You see it more, you're more likely to try it,” he said.

Lime’s electric scooters can reach up to 25 kilometres an hour and are designed for trips that are too far to walk but too close to drive, according to Schafer. Nearby scooters can be found and reserved using the Lime app and can be unlocked using a QR code. It costs $1 to start the ride and 30 cents for every minute, often costing a couple of dollars by the end of the trip.

In Saskatchewan, e-scooters are not allowed to operate on public roads, which includes streets, alleys, highways or anywhere motor vehicles operate.

Municipalities can chose to regulate e-scooters on sidewalks and bike paths. However, they cannot write a bylaw that supersedes the Traffic Safety Act.

Saskatchewan Government Insurance spokesperson Tyler McMurchy said the main concern is safety on the road.

“There are no federal or provincial standards as far as safety when it comes to their manufacture. And (e-scooters) can be operated at a relatively high rate of speed, so that’s one of the things that we look at when deciding whether or not this is something we’d look at permitting on public roads,” he said.

Schafer said he’s hopeful that Saskatchewan will follow other provinces like Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and B.C. that have passed legislation that permits e-scooters on public roads, giving municipalities the option of trying out pilot projects like this.

The City of Saskatoon said it’s looking into how other jurisdictions are managing e-scooters.

Lime Canada said it has received mostly positive feedback from the Canadian cities in which it currently operates, with Schafer pointing to a Calgary study.

"The one big highlight that came out of that was staff finding that one out of every three scooter trips replaced a car trip. So you've got that mode shift happening,” he said.

Storey said he’s on the fence about e-scooter rentals, but acknowledges they open a larger conversation.

"I think what really needs to happen in cities is they need to develop infrastructure for alternative modes of transportation so that there is no grey area, so that it's easy for people to use these modes of transportation to get around,” he said.

Lime would like to see e-scooters roll out here as early as spring, but that depends on whether the idea gets traction with the province and the city.