Hi

I'm thinking of getting an e-scooter next spring and am wondering what Mississauga's policies on e-scooters on bike trails threw park land are. And in particular on the new bike trail being built along the Queens-way as i would be taking it to commute from Mississauga to Toronto for work on occasion.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Matthew

Hi Matt

Mississauga publishes *some* of its' by-laws here:
http://www.mississaug...

Including its' Parks By-law 186-5, here:
http://www.mississaug...

I am GUESSING that Mississauga trails that are not on-road are covered by this by-law. Some excerpts:

THE CORPORATION OF THE CITYOF MISSISSAUGA
THE PARKS BY-LAW 186-05

PART I: DEFINITIONS
1. In this By-law,
“authorized sign” means any sign, notice, or other device placed or erected in or upon a park by the Corporation;

“bicycle” means any cycle propelled or driven by muscular power, regardless of the number of wheels it has;

“bicycle trail” means a pathway, whether paved or unpaved, that is designed and posted to permit the use of bicycles, and does not include a roadway;

“City” means the land located within the territorial boundaries of the City of Mississauga;
“Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Community Services or his designate;

“motorized recreational vehicle” means a vehicle that is propelled or driven by an internal combustion engine and that is used for recreational purposes, including but not limited to a snowmobile, go-cart, trail bike, mini bike, motorized scooters, or all terrain vehicle;

“multi-use recreational trail” means a multi-purpose path whether paved or unpaved for use by pedestrians and non-motorized conveyances, except motorized wheelchairs;

“park” means the land, including any body of water, buildings or structures located therein, that is owned by or made available to the Corporation by lease, agreement, or otherwise, and that is established, dedicated, set apart or made available for use as public open space; but does not include a marina, golf course, or cemetery;

“roadway” means a road that has been improved and designed for vehicular traffic use but does not include a bicycle trail;

“vehicle” means an automobile, motorcycle, motor assisted bicycle, trailer, traction engine, farm tractor, road-building machine, bicycle or any other vehicle propelled or driven by any kind of power, but does not include a wheelchair motorized wheelchair;

“woodland” means forested land covered with wooded vegetation.

Note the definition in this by-law for bicycle as "...any cycle propelled or driven by muscular power...". Basically the Mississauga Parks by-law has not been updated to agree with the new (2009) definition of "bicycle in the Ontario Highway Traffic Act:
http://www.e-laws.gov...

“bicycle” includes a tricycle, a unicycle and a power-assisted bicycle but does not include a motor-assisted bicycle;

(and, BTW the HTA also specifically excludes power-assisted bicycles from the definition of motor vehicle):

“motor vehicle” includes an automobile, a motorcycle, a motor-assisted bicycle unless otherwise indicated in this Act, and any other vehicle propelled or driven otherwise than by muscular power, but does not include a street car or other motor vehicle running only upon rails, a power-assisted bicycle, a motorized snow vehicle, a traction engine, a farm tractor, a self-propelled implement of husbandry or a road-building machine;

It would appear that a power-assisted bicycle ("ebike") would conform to the existing by-law definition of bicycle if the rider was pedaling and not using the motor.

The definition for “motorized recreational vehicle” is interesting... It appears to limit itself to gas powered vehicles, and the examples given are all for off-road vehicles not permitted on Ontario roads.

City of Toronto Parks staff are trying to use a similar definition in the Toronto Parks by-law to ban ebikes from Toronto parks... The Toronto by-law definition does not restrict itself to gas-only:

MOTORIZED RECREATIONAL VEHICLE — A snowmobile, go-cart, trail bike, mini bike, all-terrain vehicle, or similar vehicle, whatever the mode of power, but does not include a scooter.

In Mississauga, because your definition for "motorized recreational vehicle" says gas only, City staff cannot use this ploy as easily (they still might try)...


More stuff from the Mississauga Parks by-law:

2) As part of his responsibility to administer this By-law, the Commissioner may:
a) designate designated areas within a park;
b) designate areas within a park to be excluded from the public;
c) make regulations and impose conditions upon which a designated area
shall be used;
d) make regulations and impose conditions for the orderly use of a park and
any park facilities;

Basically, the Commissioner (City staff) can make up any rules they like without needing to amend the by-law...

PART V: HOURS
9. All parks shall close at 11:00 pm and shall remain closed until 7:00 am daily, unless
otherwise specified in this Part or Schedule A of this By-law.

PART VI: GENERAL PROHIBITION
Park Entry
11. No person shall:
1) enter or remain in a park after it has been closed, unless otherwise permitted; or
2) enter or remain in an area of a park where admission is prohibited or restricted
without a permit; or
3) enter or access through a park for the purpose of conducting any work on private
property without a permit; or
4) enter or access through a woodland between dusk and dawn.

Wow... Any woodland areas still left in Mississauga? If City trails cut through any, looks like these days you can't use park trails after 5pm (sundown time, yesterday.) Guessing they don't enforce this much...

General Conduct
12. While in a park, no person shall:
1) engage in riotous, boisterous, violent, threatening, or illegal activity; or
2) engage in any activity that creates a nuisance or that interferes with the use and
enjoyment of the park by other persons; or
3) engage in any activity that may cause injury or damage to any person, animal, tree
or property; or
SNIP
15) operate any motor vehicle or any other form of motorized conveyances on a
multi-purpose pad or multi-use recreational trail or bicycle trail; or...

"...any other form of motorized conveyances..."

That's pretty broad. Seems pretty clear.

PART IX: VEHICLES
General Prohibitions
38. 1) Unless otherwise permitted, no person shall drive, operate, pull, or ride any vehicle in a park except on a roadway or parking area.
SNIP
Bicycles
41. Notwithstanding section 38, a person may ride a bicycle on a bicycle trail within a park.

Again, this means the by-law defined "bicycle" and not the bicycle as defined in the HTA...

Speed
43. No person shall operate a motor vehicle on a roadway in excess of the posted limit.
44. All roadways in a park shall have a maximum speed limit of 25 kilometers per hour for all vehicles.

In Toronto, the max speed limit in the parks is only 20kmh, but parks staff like to put up 30kmh signs for their own convenience...

continues...

PART X: ENFORCEMENT
45. 1) An enforcement officer or Parks Staff may order any person believed to be contravening or have contravened any provision of this By-law:
a) to immediately desist from the activity constituting or contributing to such contravention; or
b) to immediately remove from the park any animal or thing owned by or in the control of such person which is involved in such contravention; or
c) to leave the park immediately.

Can't argue with The Man. EVen if they only *think* you are contravening some by-law...

46. Every person who contravenes any provision of this By-law is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine and any other penalties imposed pursuant to the Provincial Offences Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P-33, as amended.

PART XIV: SHORT TITLE
50. This By-law may be referred to as the “Parks By-law”.

Ontario Provincial Offences Act R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER P.33, here:
http://www.e-laws.gov...

General penalty
61. Except where otherwise expressly provided by law, every person who is convicted of an offence is liable to a fine of not more than $5,000. R.S.O. 1990, c. P.33, s. 61.

Seen here:
http://www.mississaug...

2. I have been charged with a municipal by-law infraction and I would like more information about what this means.

All bylaw charges are enforced and prosecuted by the City of Mississauga. To receive more information about your charge or to view a copy of the various municipal by-laws it is necessary to contact the By-Law department at (905) 896-5655.

The City of Toronto publishes a list of Toronto by-law infractions for on the roads and in the parks that may or may not be accurate or complete, but perhaps gives some idea what fines in Mississauga might be like:
http://www.toronto.ca...


In April, 2010 one person was spreading a rumour, seen here:
http://www.ebikerider...

Allan Harder
April 21, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Hello Eleanor,

YES, e-bikes are allowed on the tour! MCAC would love to see e-bikes out there. I’ll bring this back to the committee to discuss, but here is what is happening as far as I have seen it:
- The City of Mississauga is proposing a by-law that allows e-bikes up to 40Kg on the park trails. That weight is the e-bike only (not including the rider). I’m would think this by-law to pass sometime this summer. Note that currently Mississauga doesn’t officially allow e-bikes on park trails. Park trail regulation is a municipality task, not provincial. So, this is good news for e-bike cyclists in Mississauga. Note that the province defines an e-bike with a maximum weight of 120Kg. The 40Kg maximum for park trails is the only change in the complete provincial definition of what qualifies as an e-bike...

This person Allan Harder is on the Mississauga Cycling Advisory Committee, here:
http://www.mississaug...

As far as I can tell Mississauga has yet to amend their by-law or set any weight limit...

From the Cycling Advisory Committee meeting minutes for August 9, 2011
http://www.mississaug...

8. Right-of-way on the Trail System
Email dated July 19, 2011 from Councillor Pat Saito regarding a resident’s concern
regarding the right-of-way for pedestrians and bikes on the trail system.
Members of committee discussed approaching the issue of pedestrians and bikes on the
trail system from an educational standpoint. Discussion ensued with respect to power
assisted bikes on trails and that the by-law would be changed to prohibit these bikes that
are over 88 pounds.

It appears that almost a year and a half later, Allan Harder and gang are still "discussing" ebikes...

So what are you up to this EVening? Seen here:
http://www.mississaug...

AGENDA
THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF MISSISSAUGA
MISSISSAUGA CYCLING ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Tuesday November 8 - 7:00 PM
Committee Room A
2nd Floor, Civic Center
300 City Center Drive, Mississauga, ON

You might drop by and explain to these folks that trying to set some weight restriction for ebikes is silly? Are they going to ban cargo bikes and bikes with trailers and tandem bikes as all "too heavy" also? Will they be setting up weigh stations to weigh each suspected vehicle?

It isn't the weight of the vehicle that is dangerous, but the speed and the behaviour of the rider. If they are so concerned about vehicle safety on their bike trails they would be recommending lowering the max speed to 20kmh.

Banning ebikes based on fear and ignorance using abitrary limits not based on any study (or common sense) would be a travesty.

So these well meaning but misguided folks will be meeting tonight perhaps to decide how to limit your freedom and choices in the future. It's pretty much up to Mississauga ebikers to stop this from happening.

Ebikes should have the same rights and responsibilities as pedal-only bikes. EVerywhere.

Cheers

Lock

loCk,

Thankyou so much for the information you found.

The info youve provided is very in depth and right to date and i appreciate the reasearch. Even if i couldnt ride on park trails i would still probably decide to get an e scooter in the spring. I took one for a boot at the well know local mississauga dealer on the Queensway. With one squeeze of the throttle i took a quick blast up to the top of the block and back again. It was alot of fun and the price is right to.

This web site has been really informative in answering many questions ive had about the scooters.
In the last summer ive seen many many more on the roads in Mississauga. The first one i saw i was like wth, that must be electric its so quiet.

Thanks again for the info, much appreciated.

Matt

Yer welcome Matt

You're right they are a lot of fun.

But do us a favour? Stop calling them "scooters"? If you are refering to a street-legal "power-assisted bicycle" that looks like a scooter, just call it an "ebike" or "bike" or "scooter-style ebike"?

And you need to write your local representative on Mississauga City Council:
http://www.mississaug...

Your City Councillor will be hearing some dumb/negative stuff about ebikes from their Cycling Committee and they need to hear more positive stuff from other folks. Otherwise, you lose and we all lose.

Lock

This seems similar to Brampton's bylaw, which i find very vague unless someone has a better links
than i do, or experiences. I couldn't find the 2009 MOT about ebikes or anything about eBikes on the
Brampton website. I found this:
http://www.brampton.c...
...very outdated.

I have an open frame ebike on order which meets the MOT classification of an ebike and still trying
to figure out if the park police will stop me ...thanks

...very outdated.

That's amazing!

No definition for the word "bicycle" even...

Thing is, ya can forget about the Ontario Highway Traffic Act `cause yer talking about private property and not Ontario highways... The City can make up its own rules for parklands... UNLESS the by-law refers to HTA definitions. Which this one does not, except to refer to the Off-Road Vehicles Act.

NEVer seen anything like this before!

(12) No person owning or operating a bicycle shall allow such bicycle to exceed a speed of 8 kilometres per hour (5 miles per hour) within the parkland. At places of frequent pedestrian usage, all cyclists are required to dismount and walk their bicycles for public safety.

While "bicycle" is not defined, guess yer worried about this bit:

"vehicle” means any motorized vehicle or conveyance including trucks, automobiles, trailers, buses, motorcycles and snowmobiles;

...and yeah, ebikes are clearly "motorized vehicles". Just not MOTOR VEHICLES as defined by the HTA that governs street traffic outside of parklands and private property...

So yeah, some civil servant could use this by-law to ban and restrict ebikes in Brampton parks. If they do it will be because of complaints from park users about fears both real and imagined (mostly imagined.)

One of these things that hasn't been tested in the courts, but because this by-law does NOT include a definition for the word "bicycle" a judge wouldn't have to look too far to find the definition for "bicycle" in the HTA specifically includes power-assist bicycles (and ebikes are specifically EXCLUDED from the HTA def of "motor vehicle".)

There's a good chance someone misbehaving on an ebike will screw things up for EVerybuddy else on ebikes in Brampton parks one of these daze...

Lock

I am not sure where you dug up that old bone, try this one, it is more current.

http://www.brampton.c...

It defines bicycles, power-assisted bicycles, and e-bikes. Ebikes are specifically prohibited from multi-use trails in Brampton.

By-law 93-93, chapter 11 (5):

No person shall operate a motor assisted bicycle or e-bike upon any
sidewalk or multi-use trail

An interesting side note in section (1) is that you have to keep your feet on the pedals at all times.

Fines for riding your ebike on a trail is $55.
http://www.brampton.c...

Ahhhhh, thanks Allen, you're much better at finding info than i am. Well,
that sucks re:park paths ,maybe some ebiker messed things up already
for the rest of us in Brampton. What i don't like is that if i pedal with the
power assist off, it still reads of being prohibited which should not be
IMHO. The bike i ordered is a 7 speed open frame bike that is easily
capable of being a pedal only bike for trails... ...argh

Looks like this ban in Brampton was only brought in late last year...

Staff report from July, 2011:
http://www.brampton.c...

Report to Brampton City Council
Date: Monday, July 4, 2011
File: G02TRAF
Subject: General Traffic By-law 93-93, Administrative Update and Set Fines for Pedestrian/Bicycle Related Offences and Parking/Stopping within a Taxi Zone
Contact: Michael Parks, Manager, Traffic Engineering Services (905 874 2572)

City Council meeting, August 10:
http://www.brampton.c...

The following motion was considered:
C157-2011 Moved by Regional Councillor Sanderson
Seconded by City Councillor Callahan
That Council hereby approves the following items and that the various Officials of the Corporation are hereby authorized and directed to take such action as may be necessary to give effect of the recommendations as contained therein:

SNIP

I 9-2
1. That the report from M. Parks, Manager, Traffic Engineering Services, Works and Transportation, dated July 4, 2011, to the Council Meeting of August 10, 2011, re:
General Traffic By-law 93-93 – Administrative Update and Set Fines for Pedestrian/Bicycle Related Offences and Parking/Stopping within a Taxi Zone (File GO2TRAF) be received; and,

2. That Traffic By-law 93-93, as amended, be further amended by By-law 229-2011; and,

3. That the following proposed fines related to the offences listed under Traffic By-law 93-93, as amended, be approved, subject to the approval of the Chief Justice of Ontario:
• Pedestrians crossing highway (fail to yield to traffic) - $90.00
• Pedestrian pass over/under barrier along sidewalk - $90.00
• Pedestrian cross roadway where prohibited - $90.00
• Fail to stop vehicle before crossing multi-use path/sidewalk - $90.00
• Fail to yield vehicle to pedestrian on multi-use path/sidewalk - $90.00
• Cyclist fail to ride on right hand side of road - $90.00
• Cyclist fail to ride in a single file - $90.00
• Operate a motor assisted bicycle or e-bike on sidewalk or multi-use trail -$55.00
• Drive vehicle on designated bicycle lane - $85.00
• Park or stop a vehicle on a designated bicycle lane - $85.00
• Park in taxi zone - $50.00; and,

4. That an application be made to the Chief Justice of Ontario for approval of the proposed set fines listed in Recommendation 3.

Carried

It's buried in the July report... where multi-use pathways are first added to their Traffic By-law 93-93, and ebikes excluded...


Brampton ebikers have a problem, and his name is Brian Johnson...
http://www.brampton.c...

Minutes
Committee of Council Committee of the Council of The Corporation of the City of Brampton
September 21, 2011

D. Delegations
D 1. Brian Johnston, resident of Brampton, re: Traffic By-law 93-93, as amended – Pedestrian Safety (File G02).
Mr. Brian Johnston addressed Committee regarding his concerns with Sections 2, 10, 11 and 21 of Traffic By-law 93-93, as amended, as it relates to pedestrian safety and regulations for bicycles/motorized scooters on the sidewalk. Mr. Johnston provided details of two bicycle-related incidents he was involved in and expressed concern for the safety of pedestrians, particularly those with physical and/or mental disabilities. He stressed the need to strengthen the provisions of the Traffic By-law and to educate cyclists and motorized scooter operators. Mr. Johnston was of the opinion that recent amendments to this by-law are vague and difficult to enforce, and he requested that his concerns be referred to staff for review.

The following motion was introduced:

That the matter be referred to staff to review the matters outlined in Mr. Johnston’s delegation, including meeting with Mr. Johnston, and report back to Committee.

Committee discussions included:
 The need to increase signage of bicycle related regulations, particularly in downtown, due to busy sidewalks
 A suggestion that cyclists be required to use a bicycle bell to warn pedestrians
 Challenge in controlling discourteous cyclist behavior
 Safety concerns regarding motor assisted bicycles
 Clarification of the Traffic By-law pertaining to the riding of bicycles on the sidewalk
 The need to encourage people to be more active outdoors and to recognize that in some areas, it may not be appropriate to cycle on the roadway
 A suggestion that the matter of motor assisted bicycles be raised at the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) for discussion
 Confirmation that Mr. Johnston has submitted a request to delegate the Accessibility Advisory Committee regarding pedestrian safety for people with disabilities
 Clarification of the Brampton Safety Council’s mandate

The motion, in its entirety, was considered as follows.

CW267-2011
1. That the delegation from Mr. Brian Johnston, resident of Brampton, to the Committee of Council Meeting of September 21, 2011, re: Traffic By-law 93-93, as amended – Pedestrian Safety (File G02) be received; and,
2. That the matter be referred to staff to review the matters outlined in Mr. Johnston’s delegation, including meeting with Mr. Johnston, and report back to Committee.