Saskatoon e-scooter program data shows more women rode here than other cities

After five months of seeing e-scooters around Saskatoon, the snow means an end to the program for the season.

As the final ridership data is tabulated, it appears our city bucked the global trend in at least one category.

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“Devices are coming off streets today as a result of the weather,” Isaac Ransom, Neuron Mobility Canada corporate affairs manager told CTV News.

There are just a few of the remaining e-scooters left around Saskatoon and the app was disabled Tuesday, ending the program about a week ahead of schedule.

“Riders have travelled almost 300,000 kilometres since it began, and 9 out of 10 riders have said this has made a positive impact on the city,” Ransom says.

Top pick-up areas include River Landing, Broadway, and Rotary Park.

Downtown Saskatoon will be checking with their members to see how it went in the coming months — some already noting minor issues according to Brent Penner, Executive Director.

“Clearly there are some people that aren’t riding them in the prescribed manner, those sorts of things, but by and large nothing on our radar that caused us to have significant issues or concerns,” Penner said.

Neuron Mobility Canada — one of two e-scooter companies in Saskatoon — also operates in 15 cities in Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

The company saw a trend emerge this year.

“In Saskatoon we do have a lot of female riders which is kind of bucking the trend. We see a lot of younger riders between 16 and 34 who are female,” he said.

When the project launched in May there were some concerns about the scooters being thrown in the river.

“I’m not aware of any instances that have come across my desk, not to say it hasn’t happened, but I will say in cities where there’s a water feature, these instances are far and few between; not common occurrences,” he says.

Madison Lenz rode the scooters about six times to get to and from the store or from home to work on campus. She sees the advantage of the program.

Madison Lenz, regular rider. (Carla Shynkaruk / CTV News)

“The gas and the environmental stuff, and it’s helpful for people who don’t have cars,” Lenz told CTV News.

Lenz says she was a little skeptical of the idea at first but then realized how much of a convenience it was to get her around the city since she doesn’t have a vehicle. She spent about $10 per trip.

Scooters will be back next spring, pending city approval. A final decision on a long-term plan will come after that.