A small business in Halifax is about to deal with a massive cut to their revenue after losing a contract with the city to provide e-scooters and bikes around HRM.

Max Rastelli who owns HFX e-Scooters tells us they were not awarded the official tender for a new micromobility program with HRM- an official two-year pilot project- and it is incredibly disappointing.

“We felt like we had a really strong bid. Then, you know, on top of that if you add the fact that we’re a local small business that had been operating for six years, we felt almost certain they were going to go with two operators,” says Rastelli.

Bird Canada was awarded the contract, who is based out of Toronto and has operations all over the country.

Operating for years

HFX e-Scooters has been providing micromobility options for six years.

They offer e-scooters and bikes in various places around the city, that are booked through an app.

It shows where an e-scooter is available for rent is in relation to you on a map, that is walking distance away.

Rastelli says they introduced the service, and the city just basically let them keep operating, without any real regulations in place.

“Fast forward several years the province has amended the motor vehicle act to actually create the regulations for e-scooters and set the foundations for municipalities to tweak those regulations and do whatever they want in their jurisdiction.”

Now, Rastelli adds, with this pilot project, HRM will set the regulations and terms for micromobility operators.

What will they do now?

Now that HFX e-Scooters has lost the contract, they will have to make what Rastelli calls a huge “pivot”.

“Our revenues are going to dop at least 90 per cent. So, we hope we can stay in business,” Rastelli says.

He notes, they will move to a more private fleet model and operate along the waterfront, which is not municipal property.

In addition to that, Rastelli says, they are also in conversations with two or three other municipalities outside of HRM.

Future city decisions

Rastelli says he has nothing against Bird Canada.

“Bird invented the industry, and they’re probably going to do about as good a job as any operator could do coming into this pilot,” Rastelli says.

He adds, he only wishes maybe HRM could rethink its procurement processes with more weight on local businesses.

In an email to our newsroom, the city says Bird Canada scored the highest after a competitive “request for proposal process” (RFP).

“The RFP did not include a specific preference for local companies, but it did include mandatory requirements related to providing social value to the local community. In addition, a scored social value component was part of the overall evaluation, ensuring that the broader benefits to the community were considered alongside the technical and operational aspects.”