R+T Park Partners with Lime and City to launch first electric scooters in Canada

The David Johnston Research + Technology Park is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with the City of Waterloo and Lime to launch a new escooter pilot project across R+T Park. 

Lime is a leading micro-mobility company and has officially launched its Lime-S e-scooters in Waterloo, in what is the first electric scooter share pilot program introduced in Canada. The first Lime-S e-scooters hit the pavement this morning.

The City of Waterloo, in collaboration with R+T Park, identified a 5.5-kilometre route along trails that connects R+T Park with the University’s main campus and continues down the Laurel Trail to University Plaza and Waterloo Park. The route connects major research, employment and recreation centres where riders can travel via Lime-S e-scooter.

“Over the past several months, we have spent time in Waterloo to understand how our Lime-S escooters can help this progressive city reach its smart transportation goals. We are committed to meeting the unique needs of cities across Canada and are excited to continue expanding our global footprint,” says Andrew Savage, Vice President, Strategic Development for Lime.

“The City of Waterloo is committed to encouraging and enabling alternate forms of transportation that appeal to a wide spectrum of our residents. E-scooters have become a popular option in many other communities and I’m pleased that we are the first Canadian city to pilot a broad use of this mode of transportation,” says City of Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky. 

“I am very excited about the possibilities that this pilot project represents for Waterloo and R+T Park,” says Park Manager, Mike Pereira. “It allows us to use R+T Park as a living lab, to deploy and test innovative new solutions, bring to bear the research excellence of the University of Waterloo to gain insights into these projects, and make recommendations on how best to integrate new solutions into communities more broadly”.  

The pilot will run from October to November, and then restart in April 2019, running through the summer. Lime and the City of Waterloo will be closely watching trends in data to determine next steps beyond the pilot. University of Waterloo Researchers are also exploring working with Lime to study the project and it’s outcomes.

Lime’s entry into Canada follows a major milestone: 11.5 million scooter and bike rides in just over a year. Since its first launch in June 2017, the company has served more than 100 markets across the United States and Europe. By the end of 2018, Lime plans to launch in 50 new cities, internationally. 

Unlike other share programs, Lime-S e-scooters will not be docked. The Lime app allows consumers to find available Lime-S e-scooters on its live GPS map.