There's a new transportation company trying to get a foothold in Toronto to give you a new option to glide around.
Lime runs a fleet of for-rent electric, stand-up scooters which have seen success in dozens of American cities like San Francisco, Chicago and Austin. Companies like Bird and Spin are in the picture too. But in some cases all three have launched in a city before decision-makers have had a chance to draft guidelines for their operation.
The Globe and Mail was first to report that representatives from Lime had recently been showing off their scooters to councillors and staff at Toronto City Hall.
Asked by NEWSTALK 1010 about the possibility of for-rent scooters, the mayor says he thinks it could work in Toronto.
"It's going to count on us fairly and properly regulating,"John Tory said Tuesday. "I'm not going to try to turn back the hands of time and pretend these things don't exist."
Road users in cities with for-rent scooters have complained of a confusing free-for-all with riders zipping around wherever they please, sometimes without helmets.
Tory says he recently approached a representative from Lime at City Hall with his concerns about the use of the road and about the scooters cluttering up Toronto sidewalks. Unlike Toronto's bike-share program, for-rent scooters do not need to be returned to a rack once a rider has arrived at their destination.
"Sidewalks are for everybody and they're not for scooters to be lying around no matter whose scooters they are."
Tory says the company had some answers they were willing to discuss.
While potential added pressure on Toronto's bike lane network is something the city would have to consider, the mayor says he's "favourably disposed" to for-rent scooters because they will help take cars off the road.