Lime escooters may be pulled off streets in Auckland

AUCKLAND: Lime has been given until noon today to provide information on safety issues or face the possibility of its escooters being taken off Auckland streets.

In a joint statement issued yesterday from Auckland Council and Auckland Transport, council chief operating officer Dean Kimpton said the council bodies have been actively seek ing assurances about the faults from Lime this week, with some scooters locking.

‘‘Auckland Council has formally written to Lime twice this week to request urgent updates, for us to be able to decide on any next steps from a licensing perspective.

If this was an aircraft with a problem it would be grounded, Auckland Transport chairman Lester Levy said.

Mr Kimpton said Lime had been asked to provide information on the number of scooters affected, the technical issue leading to failure, its proposed solution including how it would manage pulling affected scooters off the streets, and assurance there would be no further malfunctions.

Kimpton said Lime had until noon today to provide Auckland Council and Auckland Transport with the information to make an assessment.

An Auckland Transport spokeswoman said Lime yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to meet the timeframes.

‘‘Tomorrow we expect to take an informed view based on their feedback,’’ the spokeswoman said.

Auckland Transport chairman Lester Levy said if Lime failed to meet the deadline he would expect management to take the appropriate action based on the level of concern. — NZME