Riders take a subway train in downtown Toronto, on April 1, 2023. The TTC commission voted 6-4 to ban e-bikes and e-scooters until April 15.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
In eerie social-media footage, a mangled electric bike lies on the floor of an empty Toronto subway car, bathed in bright orange flames and a haze of smoke.
The afternoon fire last New Year’s Eve on a Toronto Transit Commission train as it pulled into a station caused only minor injuries and little damage. But nearly a year later, the incident has prompted a sweeping crackdown that is aimed at the growing legions of food-delivery workers who routinely drag their e-bikes onto public transit.
The TTC’s board this week voted to institute a winter ban on all e-bikes and e-scooters. There are fears that potentially faulty lithium-ion batteries, damaged by melted snow and salt, could burst into hard-to-fight fires and cause a catastrophic scenario in the tunnels of the country’s biggest public transit system.
But the move, which takes effect on Tuesday and is to last until April 15, threatens to leave countless gig workers, many of whom rely on the TTC to get from their suburban homes to the delivery-dense downtown, out in the cold.
Critics say the TTC’s move targets an already marginalized population: Many of the e-bike riders who warm their hands in oversized, insulated handlebar mitts and bring ramen, pizza or burgers to Torontonians are racialized and recent immigrants. And the vast majority are poorly paid.
Brice Sopher, a long-time delivery cyclist and vice-president of the group Gig Workers United, said the TTC ban would cut off thousands of workers from their livelihood, with no warning, as winter – a peak time for their business – sets in.
He said replacing damaged batteries can be expensive for those who rely on precarious work. He said instead of banning e-bikes on public transit, governments should act to ensure all e-bike batteries sold in Canada are safe.
“Gig workers themselves don’t want to be working with a ticking time bomb attached to their bike,” Mr. Sopher said. “… Why do we have batteries for sale that explode, that can catch fire? Why are we allowing these to be sold in Canada or shipped to Canada? The option should not exist.”
The TTC’s chairman, Toronto City Councillor Jamaal Myers, had earlier this year asked the transit agency’s staff to examine the threat posed by e-bikes after last year’s fire. He fears that a similar blaze on a crowded rush-hour train stuck deep in a tunnel could be devastating.
Mr. Myers had deferred the vote on the proposed ban last month to allow for an “equity analysis” report from the TTC that warned of the impact on gig workers. But he and the commission still voted 6-4 on Tuesday for the ban.
“This was not a decision that I came to lightly,” Mr. Myers said. “I knew that this would disproportionately hurt certain groups.”
Mr. Myers said the TTC would talk to delivery-app companies and gig workers about possible solutions, such as having Uber Eats or its peers provide secure bike parking for its riders downtown. He also said that the TTC would look into the idea of battery-storage facilities at it stations, where riders could deposit batteries before getting on a train.
And he agreed that the federal government needs to better regulate e-bike batteries, describing the current situation as a “regulatory void.”
Mr. Myers said the way enforcement will be done still needs to be worked out and acknowledged that the ban could cause tensions on the transit system: “I think it will just lead to people being angry, because they need to go to work, they need to pay their rent. And this is kind of coming out of nowhere if you haven’t been paying attention.”
The province’s Metrolinx transit agency recently imposed rules for e-bikes on its GO Transit commuter rail system, but not a ban. Only e-bikes with certain certified, undamaged batteries (those marked with “UL” or “CE” standards) are allowed. But Mr. Myers said the TTC faced higher risks than GO Transit from potential fires, as subway trains are often underground.
Only a handful of major transit systems around the world have banned e-bikes, including in Boston, which bans bikes of all kinds, and Delhi and Brussels, according to a survey by TTC officials. New York City has launched an exchange program to allow delivery riders with substandard e-bikes or batteries to swap them for safer ones.
City Councillor Josh Matlow, who sits on the TTC’s board, voted against the ban, saying e-bikes were here to stay and that a blanket ban would devastate some of the city’s most vulnerable workers. He said the TTC does not have the resources to strictly enforce such a ban, either.
“There isn’t the kind of enforcement on the TTC that’s going to be going car to car looking at batteries,” Mr. Matlow said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Asked why e-bike batteries are not more tightly regulated, Health Canada spokesman Joshua Coke said the department, along with Transport Canada, is currently studying the “burn, fire and explosion hazards” of lithium-ion batteries. In July, Health Canada took the first step under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act in the process of determining whether new mandatory rules are needed.
Back in May, 2023, Health Canada and Transport Canada issued a public advisory warning that misuse or modification of e-bike lithium-ion batteries can be “extremely dangerous.”
The notice said a damaged or misused battery can overheat and go into what is known as a “thermal runaway,” igniting the flammable substances inside and leading to “explosions or fires that are extremely difficult to extinguish.” U.S. authorities had reported at least 208 fires or overheating incidents and 19 fatalities in 2021 and 2022 related to this kind of battery.
The advisory said riders should only use the battery that came with their e-bike or e-scooter, and that the government recommends only using batteries marked as compliant with the “ANSI/CAN/UL 2272″ and “ANSI/CAN/UL 2849″ standards.