Lime to front by Friday noon

Lime has a midday deadline on February 22 to explain to the Auckland Council and Auckland Transport why some of its electric scooters are locking up.

This follows reports of Lime e-scooter riders suffering injuries they attribute to a malfunction in which the scooter’s wheels can randomly lock, causing sudden braking.

The council says it has formally written to Lime twice this week to request urgent updates to allow any next steps from a licencing perspective to be decided on.

It wants to know the number of scooters affected, the technical issue leading to failure, its proposed solution including how it will manage pulling affected scooters off the streets, and assurance there will no further malfunctions.

The priority remains ensuring that people who choose to use this innovative new mode of transport are safe, the council says.

As part of the code of practice for shared scooter services, the operator needs to ensure its fleet is safe for its customers.

A Lime spokesman told Stuff an “operational issue” was under investigation and affected scooters had been removed from circulation in February.

As part of its e-scooter licence extension to March 31, Lime has agreed to have “ambassadors” in the city who would educate riders about safety and pop-up tents for demonstrations and safety training.

Both Auckland and Christchurch have had Lime e-scooters on trial since October 2018. They’re also in Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Dunedin, with Hamilton, Tauranga and Queenstown also expected to get them.

Wellington should have e-scooters by mid-March with licences to be given to two companies after an evaluation of applications.