Lime plan for ‘every city in NZ’
The company that introduced electric scooters to Auckland and Christchurch plans to spread to ‘‘every city in New Zealand’’.
On Wednesday, Lime’s website listed job openings for operation managers in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Dunedin and Queenstown. The self-proclaimed ‘‘fastest growing startup of 2018’’ is also looking for a national manager for Lime’s New Zealand subsidiary. The listings come as the global company, with an estimated valuation of more than $1 billion, negotiates with city councils and transport authorities to permit its local operations. Lime’s Australia and New Zealand general manager, Anthony Fleo, said: ‘‘We’d be excited to bring the service to every city in New Zealand.
‘‘Before we do any further expansion we want to work with local councils. Hiring takes time, so if those are potential avenues for us we want to see if people are interested in working with the company.’’
The California-based startup popped on to the micro-mobility market in January 2017, and within a year had conquered 70 markets and had clocked at least 6 million rides.
In mid October, 400 dockless e-scooters arrived in Christchurch and about 600 in Auckland. But the service almost immediately faced criticism over safety, with emergency doctors seeing a rise in broken bones and flesh wounds from e-scooter incidents. In its first month of operation in New Zealand, ACC received 173 e-scooter related injury claims.
On Tuesday, it was announced Lime was seeking a permit to operate in Tauranga, and Lime co-founder Caen Contee was in Wellington in mid November to scope out potential.
Conquering the micromobility market in Hamilton, Dunedin and Queenstown appears to be the next objective.
The scooters can travel about 12 kilometres per hour and cover distances of up to 60km depending on the terrain.
They cost $1 to hire plus 30 cents per minute, which equates to about $18 an hour.
They are unlocked by an app and are recharged by ‘‘juicers’’ who are paid up to $15 per scooter to collect and recharge the batteries.