Rentable e-scooters coming to Kamloops in spring 2026 as city partners with Bird Canada

The city will be seeking input from the business community and others on where these “preferred parking locations” should be, to ensure there is a safe and coordinated rollout of the rental program.

Kamloops joined the provincial electric kick scooter pilot project last year, with plans to implement it in two phases. Phase one essentially legalized the use of these scooters on streets with speed limits up to 50 km/h or in designated cycling lanes on streets with speed limits above 50 km/h.

The rollout of rentable e-scooters was envisioned as phase two, and Cheetham says Kamloops hopes to adopt best practices learned in communities like Vernon and Kelowna where people have been able to rent these scooters for a while.

“We’re trying to bake in the best practices from the outset so we can minimize the challenges we face but of course, we also have the ability to make adjustments basically in real time,” Cheetham said.

“The intent is to do this in phases, starting with the core areas of the community and then, because there is so much data collected, it helps to inform where people are looking to take these things.”

As part of the provincial pilot, participating communities are allowed to set their own rules around the use of e-scooters. In Kamloops, that also means no riding on sidewalks, unless there is no safe alternative route available.

Cheetham also noted the city has the ability to restrict speeds or exclude entire sections of Kamloops, if needed.

“These rentable devices have some incredible technology using GPS and geo-fencing so they can be controlled a lot more than a privately owned kick scooter or e-bike,” Cheetham said.

“The agreement with the city is only related to public land. For privately owned lands like malls or shopping centres, the operator will need to be work with the owners to establish agreements for these devices to be used.”

Safety is also top of mind, as Cheetham referenced a recently released report on the first year of the current pilot that incorporated data from Bird Canada, Lime, Neuron and Sparrow Scooters. Those four providers recorded 53 safety incidents over 722,000 trips that covered 1.43 million kilometres.

“Not to minimize those incidents, but it represents that 99.9 per cent of trips were done without incidents,” he said.

Cheetham also noted the rental e-scooter program will include a community education campaign to ensure that Kamloopsians are aware of the dos and don’ts.

“We’re partnering with an operator who demonstrates not only the technical ability to offer rentals but is willing to work with the city to be open to making this system work for the communities they’re operating in,” Cheetham said.

For now, the plan is to offer these rentals until the provincial pilot expires in April 2028, at which point Cheetham said the city’s agreement with Bird Canada has options to extend the initiative if the province allows e-scooters to keep operating.

More information about the City of Kamloops’ electric kick scooter pilot including rules and regulations can be found here.

by Victor Kaisar

Rentable e-scooters coming to Kamloops in spring 2026 as city partners with Bird Canada

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