Driving the Future of Sustainable Mobility

As the climate crisis intensifies, reimagining transportation systems is crucial. Traditional car-centric urban landscapes are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and road accidents. In response, alternative modes of transportation, particularly micro mobility options like e-scooters and e-bikes, are gaining attention. These light, personal vehicles offer practical solutions for short trips, particularly for the “first mile, last mile” connections to public transit. The key question remains: how can these technologies be integrated effectively into real-world environments?

The David Johnston Research + Technology Park (R+T Park) has been leading the way in addressing this question through our Living Labs Initiative. This innovative project tested e-scooters in the community, using the park as a testbed to examine the impact, and the opportunity, of micro mobility. The collaboration between the City of Waterloo and R+T Park resulted in Canada’s first e-scooter pilot program in 2018, marking a pioneering moment in urban transportation.

But this pilot wasn’t just about placing scooters on streets and seeing how they fared. Prior to 2018 e-scooters were not permitted anywhere in the public realm across Canada. There were no existing rules, and no one had any experience with how e-scooters would integrate into the Canadian urban landscape. The project needed to establish guidelines on where these scooters could operate, how they should be deployed, and how to ensure safe interaction between users, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.

The results of this research influenced policy and ushered in pilot e-scooter programs across Canada, including in Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. The insights learned in R+T Park also helped to inform the Government of Ontario’s five-year e-scooter pilot program launched in 2020. In 2023, Waterloo Region launched a new, region-wide e-scooter program, five years after the pilot’s commencement.

The ultimate goal of this research is to encourage people to move away from car dependence and to explore the potential of micro mobility and public transit in shaping the future of urban mobility. For residents of Waterloo Region, the hope is that e-scooters, along with other sustainable and active transportation options, can become an integral part of daily life, making car dependency less necessary and reducing the region’s overall carbon footprint.

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R+T Park’s Living Labs Initiative lets innovators test their ideas in real-world settings. Let’s collaborate!

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The Living Labs Initiative at R+T Park has proven that research, when conducted in real-world environments, generate valuable insights that help shape the future. Join us in driving innovation—get involved today and be part of the transformation.