B.C. e-bike companies had been charging PST despite exemptions

Three e-bike rental companies in B.C. have been charging provincial sales tax (PST) on the use of their bikes, despite the government making qualifying e-bike rentals exempt from the tax since 2021.

CBC News has confirmed that Lime, Neuron and Bird have charged customers PST on rentals, despite the B.C. government waiving the seven per cent PST on qualifying rentals in April 2021.

The PST exemption on rentals, which was put in place as part of broader initiatives to encourage active transportation, covers e-bikes that have pedals, are not mopeds and do not have combustion engines. E-scooters without pedals are not included. 

The three companies that had been charging PST on e-bike rentals declined to disclose how much tax had been collected. The Ministry of Finance also declined to provide a figure, but the figure could be hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on CBC estimates.

Based on documents from the District of North Vancouver, CBC News estimates that on Metro Vancouver's North Shore alone, one company, Lime, collected more than $13,700 in PST from its e-bike rental program from January until August this year — with the company having rented e-bikes there since 2021.

Navdeep Chhina from advocacy group HUB Cycling says companies should find a way to give customers back the PST that they paid in excess, even if the amount ends up being cents on the dollar.

"That doesn't sound fair," he told CBC News. "I don't think the end user or the customer should be charged PST on the services they are not supposed to be charged."

Chhina and his group pushed for PST exemptions in order to encourage the uptake of e-bikes, and he says he is hopeful the companies find a way to provide credits or refunds to affected customers.

"It adds up and everybody is, in the current environment, trying to be mindful of every expense they make," he said.

The province says qualifying rentals should be exempt from PST, and a Finance Ministry spokesperson told CBC News that if a consumer believes they have been charged PST in error, they should apply for a refund.

Companies active across province

After CBC News brought the issue of the PST charges to the companies' attention last month, two of the companies have since said they are working with the province to address the excess charges, while a third says it will rectify the situation if told to by the province.

Bird, which has operated e-bike rentals in Surrey since April, had initially told CBC News on Sept. 13 that it believed short-term rentals do not qualify as a "lease" under provincial regulations, and would not be exempt from PST.

But on Oct. 2, it issued a follow-up statement to CBC News.

"Bird Canada is shifting our policy based on feedback from the province and are working with provincial stakeholders to best address the already remitted PST," read a statement from a Bird spokesperson.

Jacob Tugendrajch, a spokesperson for Lime, similarly cited "unclear language" in the province's bulletin when he confirmed that the company has been charging PST on its e-bike rentals.

He later told CBC news the company would work with riders and the province to address previously collected PST.

A Neuron spokesperson said that the company would definitely rectify the situation if told to by the province, but it had not yet had that discussion.

Two other e-bike rental companies in B.C. — Evolve and Mobi — confirmed to CBC News that they do not charge PST on qualifying e-bike rentals.

Amid the confusion being cited by different companies, Chhina wants a more streamlined service that would allow riders to use the same account for different e-bike providers.

"We are even advocating to regional transportation authorities like TransLink to look at a broader scheme where instead of people trying to get accounts with so many different micro-mobility service providers ... TransLink should take this on as part of the transit service," he said.