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The bright orange of Neuron e-scooters will soon be replaced by lime green this summer on the streets of Saskatoon and Regina. But the news appears to have caught both cities off guard.
“We had no idea this was coming,” Jay Magus, director of transportation with the City of Saskatoon, said in an interview on Monday.
Reports emerged on Friday that Neuron Mobility Canada was being taken over by Lime. Neuron’s Canadian webpage has already been removed.
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Lime told the Canadian Press it will assume operations from Neuron in 12 Canadian communities – including Regina and Saskatoon – on a city-by-city basis over the coming months.
Magus said it was late last week when Saskatoon city officials learned of the takeover themselves. He said it’s planned for Saskatoon for the end of July.
“Starting July 30, the orange Neuron units will be replaced with the Lime units, and they hope to do this when they do their evening or morning rounds to relocate the units where they’re best used,” he said. “They’re hoping that – and we’re hoping too – that it’s a seamless transition between the two companies.”
He said this is the third summer the Neuron scooters are in use in Saskatoon, and have become a source of not just transportation but recreation as well, on evenings and weekends.
“We hope it’s a seamless transition, and we’ll do whatever we can to help,” he said. “We are going to take the month of July to – we’ve received the specs of the Lime units, so we’ll make sure they align with our expectations laid out, that we had in our permit.
“Neuron had a permit to operate in Saskatoon, so we’ll double check those specs in terms of the units themselves still aligned with that permit.”
He said that review will include whether the Lime scooters are compatible with the restrictions placed on Neuron’s devices, in terms of where they can be used and their speed limit.
That will also include spot checks to ensure the devices are operating within those restrictions, something Neuron had been very responsive to. He also said there had been a learning curve for users of the devices, but things had been on the right track.
“I don’t see too many downtown in the middle of the day, but you see more in the evening and on the weekends, folks using those stuff here along the riverbank and things like that,” he said.
“Obviously they haven’t pulled out of Saskatoon, so it must be a good business arrangement for them, and no complaints from us.”
E-scooters first rolled into Saskatchewan in 2023. At the time of publication, the City of Regina had not yet provided a statement or details about the changeover.
–with files from The Canadian Press
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