E-scooters pass officers’ review

Wellington’s e-scooter trial has been deemed a success, with council officers recommending the council vote in favour of continuing e-scooter operations in the city.

Rideshare e-scooters, operated by Flamingo and Jump, have been available in Wellington since June 2019. The two companies were given an 18-month initial licence, which would be reviewed after the first six months.

The review involved two rounds of surveys with 7410 people giving their thoughts, the largest public engagement on any council project since the proposed Wellington supercity merger in 2015.

A report presented by officers recommended the council ‘‘agree in principle’’ to allow rideshare e-scooters to keep operating, and call for expressions of interest from new e-scooter hire operators in 2021.

Council was asked to make a number of changes to policies, including developing a plan for low-cost scooter parking, to solve issues with scooters falling over and blocking pathways.

Council will vote on whether to accept the report’s recommendations at a meeting on May 21.

Public feedback strongly supported the scheme continuing, the survey found. Among feedback from the public, which was a self-selecting survey of more than 6000 people, 72 per cent of people said the e-scooters should ‘‘maybe’’ or ‘‘definitely’’ stay.

A council research panel of 700 people, which was not self-selected, found 60 per cent support. Similar surveys in Christchurch and Auckland

found 60 per cent and 49 per cent support respectively.

During the first six months, 514,169 e-scooter rides were taken in Wellington, with an average of 2866 trips per day.

Yesterday, e-scooters made their first appearance on Wellington’s streets since the coronavirus lockdown was enforced in late March, with Flamingo the first to roll out across the city. Jump scooters don’t yet have a planned date to return, after Lime bought the business from Uber for $170 million.

E-scooters have been a controversial

issue around the council table since they arrived on the city’s streets.

Councillor Simon Woolf has previously called for the trial to be abandoned due to safety risk, and councillor Nicola Young has proposed e-scooters be banned from footpaths.

In March, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter proposed changes to regulations to make footpaths more pedestrian-friendly. They included a speed limit of 15kmh for e-scooters on footpaths, and a law change to allow e-scooters to be used in cycle lanes.