Auckland pulls plug on Lime scooters
New operators win approval to put 3200 two-wheelers on streets
Auckland Council has dumped Lime e-scooters from city streets and replaced the San Francisco-based company with new providers.
There are four new operators — Beam, Flamingo, Neuron and Jump — from eight applications.
Lime and Wave failed to gain new licences, council director of regulatory services Craig Hobbs said. They have been instructed to deactivate their e-scooters by Monday at midnight and have them all off the streets by Friday, December 6.
The new licences will come into effect on Tuesday and run for six months. Between them, the new operators are allowed to put 3200 scooters on Auckland streets. E-scooters will be spread over three areas including the inner city, and greater numbers in the outer city and rest of the region.
Previously, the cap was set at 1875 scooters.
Lime NZ public-affairs manager Lauren Mentjox said they regretted the decision, but would continue to work with New Zealand councils to “build the right shared mobility programme for their towns and cities”.
“Lime is incredibly disappointed to hear we will not be able to support the thousands of riders who use our scooters every day in Auckland,” Mentjox said.
“Safety is — and has always been — at the forefront of our mission. Our scooters are the most technologically advanced and safest e-scooter available.”
Hobbs said the four new operators had a stronger case, including on safety aspects.
“The successful applications included higher-quality strategies around influencing user behaviour to improve safety outcomes and reduce potential nuisance,” Hobbs said.
“We have also explored a number of enhanced initiatives, including the deactivation of scooters outside of licensed hours, a curfew in entertainment areas and parking enforcement and initiatives.
“This highlights our focus on ‘nuisance factors’ around e-scooter use and our commitment to balancing the increasing popularity of micromobility with the needs of nonusers.”
He said council had a brief conversation with Lime representatives about the decision yesterday and would have a more in-depth conversation with it.
Flamingo is a Wellington-based company, Beam and Neuron are based in Singapore and Jump is owned by Uber.
Hobbs said it was hoped the NZ Transport Agency would come up with new regulations in the next six months to address issues around speed, helmets and where e-scooters could be used. At present, council cannot control these issues.
One person has been killed in Auckland and more than 2000 injured when riding the popular scooters, which were launched in the city in October last year.
Toben John Hunt, 23, died after an accident on a Lime scooter in downtown Auckland in September.
A study looking at e-scooter injuries requiring surgery at Auckland City Hospital found 21 patients needed 23 operations at a total cost of $404,925 between October 15 last year and February 22. Injuries ranged from head fractures to broken legs, ankles and knees.
The paper, called The Cost of Electric-Scooter Related Orthopaedic Surgery, found the popularity of e-scooters was creating a burden on taxpayers and healthcare systems.
Claims for ACC e-scooter injuries also topped $4.3 million with more than 2000 claims between October last year and July this year. Auckland had the most claims with 1271, totalling $1,767,480.
The main causes of injuries, according to ACC claims, were loss of balance and injuries to the knee, hand, wrist and arm.
Mitchell Price, Lime’s head of government relations Asia Pacific, told the Herald this year safety was a big issue: “Safety is remaining our first priority, and throughout the past 12 months we’ve worked with all stakeholders, NZTA, Minister of Transport, all the councils across New Zealand to create a safe riding environment . . .”
At the time, Price said a “bigger and safer” Lime generation-3.0 scooter, being tested in the United States, would be put on New Zealand streets next year. The mooted new scooters have a replaceable battery in the baseboard and LED face with Google map integration.
“It’s the world-leading device and it’s something we’re committed to bringing to New Zealand,” Price said.
While Lime hadn’t provided helmets, he said it would push harder on getting riders to wear them.
“Lime recommends riders wear helmets and provides them for free to those participating in its ‘First Ride’ rider safety training events (available for new or first-time riders).
“Overseas we have partnered with helmet companies to offer discounted products to riders and are working on expanding these programmes to more cities around the world, including NZ.”
A global Lime survey found it had a massive uptake in New Zealand, with 61.3 per cent of Auckland riders using the motorised scooter to commute to and from work, compared with 37 per cent globally.