Lime e-scooter suspension continues in Auckland

Public use of Lime electric scooters has been squashed for at least another 24 hours in Auckland.

The Auckland Council expects to hear from Lime early this week after council chief operating officer Dean Kimpton announced on February 22 the local body was temporarily suspending Lime’s e-scooter trial with a further decision to come after more information is received from the company.

This follows an alleged glitch in which some scooter wheels randomly locked, sending riders flying.

Lime’s Auckland e-scooter fleet has been returned to its Kingsland depot.

Kimpton says the council asked Lime on February 25 for further information about safety issues and that its licence remains suspended until the council is comfortable with the response, Stuff reports.

He says a decision is expected within 24 hours of the update being received.

Nearly 5000 emails about the scooters, most very supportive, had been received by the council on February 25. These included support for the council’s decision to suspend the licence while seeking reassurances that type of scooter is safe, Kimpton says.

Meanwhile, the Otago Daily Times reports the Automobile Association wants all Lime scooters removed from the country’s streets until proven safe.

Lime had voluntarily removed e-scooters from Dunedin streets following discussions with the Dunedin City Council after the Auckland decision.

The Hutt City Council will decide in about a fortnight whether the e-scooters will stay in Upper and Lower Hutt.

And the Christchurch City Council will consider a report on Lime scooters operating there on February 28.

Lime says it is confident in the safety of its service and that the e-scooters will return to Auckland’s streets soon.

It says a firmware update has fixed the braking glitch.

Lime has agreed to Auckland Council conditions which include providing a safety report every 48 hours, meeting weekly with council staff to discuss any incidents, and the council appointing an independent reviewer with access to Lime’s data.

The company advised the council and Auckland Transport on February 22 that it identified 155 reported irregular braking incidents that may have been caused by the unexpected locking issue, 92 of these in Auckland. Of the 155 incidents, 30 resulted in injury of which 19 were in Auckland.