Electric scooter trial extended
A city councillor is calling for the ‘‘fun police’’ to back off over their e-scooter criticisms as it emerges one in 10 Christchurch residents have embraced the Lime craze.
The popular and controversial e-scooters will remain on Christchurch streets until at least the end of February after the Christchurch City Council decided to extend a three-month trial.
About 35,000 people in Christchurch – one in 10 residents – have taken at least one ride on a Lime scooter since 400 were launched in the city on October 15. There are now 700 Lime scooters in Christchurch and up to 1000 in Auckland.
At a council’s infrastructure, transport and environment (ITE) committee on Wednesday, councillor Aaron Keown said the scooters had created an incredible amount of vibrancy to the central city.
‘‘There is a lot of fun police in Christchurch that like whinging about things.
‘‘I thought the tall poppy was about success but it seems tall poppy has extended its tentacles all the way to fun, because people love to knock other people getting out having a good time.’’
The injury statistics were not that bad, he said. The number of e-scooterrelated ACC claims in Auckland and Christchurch had climbed to 66 last week, up from 38 on October 27.
‘‘We’ve all knocked our teeth out doing something stupid and you usually learn from that. I didn’t ask for the hydroslide to be banned when I lost my teeth and it’s still there. Just don’t stand up going backwards down a hydroslide.’’
The three-month trial was due to end on January 15, but the (ITE) committee decided to extend Lime’s permit until the end of February to give council staff the chance to review the trial and enable time for councillors to decide whether to extend the permit.
The council has formed a reference group to ‘‘interrogate’’ the performance and impacts of the scooter pilot. The group, which meets for the first time on Thursday includes council staff, NZ Transport Agency, Environment Canterbury, Canterbury District Health Board, police, inner city residents, Age Concern and the Blind Foundation.
Councillors also wanted young people and cyclists on the group.
The group would make recommendations to the council on how to address issues or concerns surrounding the e-scooters, before a decision is made on extending the pilot.
During an update on the trial at the ITE committee meeting, council transport policy planner Nick Lovett said during the first two weeks of the trial more than 65,000 trips had taken place. The median distance was 1 kilometre and the median trip time was 10 minutes, equating to an average speed of 6 kilometres an hour.
There has been a lot of discussion about safety issues and injuries since the scooters were launched, but Lovett said during the first week of the trial when there were 14 e-scooter-related ACC claims in Auckland and Christchurch, there was also 112 ACC claims made for push scooters.
The number of ACC claims a week for rugby was about 1500.
The scooters, which can be used on the footpath or road, have a top speed of 27kmh and a 48km range. Riders must be 18 to use them, and a helmet is recommended, but not required.
Cr Mike Davidson said the trial had been successful so far and would have helped to reduce the number of cars on the road.
He believed the big uptake was due to people not having to wear a helmet.
He said if the data showed that people could ride the scooters safely without a helmet then there was potential for the compulsory helmet law for people riding bicycles to be reviewed.