Auckland Council gives Lime and Wave the boot - but 70% more e-scooters will be on the street

November 29, 2019

Despite the removal of Lime and Wave scooters, there is expected to be a 70 per cent jump in the overall number of scooters.

Lime and Wave e-scooters are to be removed from Auckland streets by Tuesday, but other operators will continue.

Auckland Council and Auckland Transport made the announcement today, saying four operators have been granted licences to operate in Auckland for six months - Beam, Flamingo, Jump and Neuron.

A total of eight applications to operate in Auckland were received.

A combined total of 3200 rideshare scooters will be available from next Tuesday - up from 1875 currently.

Auckland Council director of regulatory services Craig Hobbs said the successful operators had presented "higher quality strategies around influencing user behaviour to improve safety outcomes and reduce potential nuisance."

Auckland officials will soon decide whether they should stay.

Auckland Transport CEO Shane Ellison said the trial period had been "a learning process" and said "a number of enhancements" had been introduced to enhance safety and reduce "public nuisance" factors.

Those enhancements include a change which will see all e-scooters deactivated overnight outside of licenced hours, parking enforcement initiatives and a curfew in entertainment areas.

"As always, riders should follow the terms and conditions they agree to when renting an e-scooter, wear a helmet and ride safely," Mr Hobbs said.

Safety concerns around e-scooters have been raised by many since they were introduced to the city on October 15 last year.

One person has died in Auckland, and the Lime trial was temporarily suspended in February after a fault led to numerous rider injuries.

Lime had to tighten its safety regulations and check scooters every seven days to be allowed back on the streets.

ACC has paid almost $4.5 million in a year on e-scooter claims.

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