Time to look to Wellington for scooter advice

WHAT a shambles!

Electric scooters here, there and everywhere; an unruly menace to pedestrians.

Complaints pepper the ODT’s letter columns.

Mayor Cull throws up his hands in an abject display of ‘‘what to do?’’

How strange, then, he signed a memorandum of understanding last December setting out a series of obligations and responsibilities for Lime and its ‘‘agents’’.

Even more strange was the revelation by Cr O’Malley (ODT, 9.2.19) that permission for the scooters to invade Dunedin was granted not by councillors but rather by someone who worked for the council.

This allpowerful ‘‘someone’’ has clearly rendered the mayor and councillors superfluous to requirements.

But help could be at hand.

Cr Cull is looking at Wellington City Council’s approach to escooters.

An 18month trial will come with heavy restrictions, including a ban on the city’s Golden Mile and the Botanic Gardens.

There will also be speed limits. Operators will also have to fork out $10,000 to help fund a public safety awareness campaign, in partnership with the council.

Hopefully, Dunedin can learn from Wellington’s hardnosed approach.

G.R. MacDonald St Kilda