E-scooters for Wellington by mid-March

A six-month trial of electric scooters will be launched in Wellington within about a month.

The Wellington City Council city strategy committee voted eight to five in favour of the trial which can be extended by a year.

Seven companies want to operate electric scooter share schemes in Wellington – Blip Scooters, Flamingo, Fuutr, Lime, Onzo, Scoot International and Baol.

Licences will be given to two companies following an evaluation of applications, and between 600 and 800 e-scooters could be on the streets by mid-March, the council says.

Operators can track where scooters go and set electronic boundaries (‘geo-fencing’) for where they can’t.

This will be used to enforce a ban on hiring e-scooters by disabling them within the busy Courtenay precinct after 9pm Friday to Sunday and on public holidays.

Councillors voted that e-scooters should not be allowed on footpaths in the central business district (CBD) or suburban shopping centres, instead likely to be used on CBD roads

They also voted for more conditions, including restrictions on their use on the seaward side of Oriental Parade from Herd Street to Freyberg Pool, obeying existing cycling speed limits on the waterfront, keeping left, applying scooter registration numbers to better identify improper use, and leaving room in the trial for new operators.

Electric scooters will be banned in the Botanic Garden, including the Rose Garden and Anderson Park, Bolton Street Cemetery, Otari-Wilton’s Bush and Truby King Park.

The council intends charging operators $45 a scooter.

Operators will also have to contribute $10,000 to a public safety awareness campaign in conjunction with the council.

Concerns raised include footpath safety.

Mayor Justin Lester backs the trial, says it gives the council more control over how the scooters are rolled out across the city.

“The trial will test the demand for e-scooters, how they fit in the context of Wellington, and rider behaviour,” he says.

“We are keen to see if an e-scooter share scheme encourages more people to replace some private vehicle trips – whether they just want to get across town or use it as part of their commute.”

Council transport strategy portfolio leader Chris Calvi-Freeman says the best chance to manage outcomes for the city is likely to be through the licensing of commercial operators so people are less inclined to buy their own scooter.

“The Ministry of Transport and NZ Transport Agency are considering options for regulation but this could be some time away.”

Lime e-scooters launched in Dunedin on January 10 and are operating under trials in Christchurch and the Hutt Valley, with Queenstown, Tauranga and Hamilton also expected to get them.

Auckland has been trialling Lime e-scooters since October last year and has pushed its trial out to the end of March.

Christchurch has also had them since October with the council there considering issuing a year’s licence to operate 1000 scooters, up from 700. A city-wide limit of 1600 e-scooters is proposed.