Auckland limer says school 'hoarding' e-scooters for students to use

Monday, 29 October 2018

Lime scooters locked in a car at the Pioneer Leisure Centre car park in Christchurch.

An Auckland school has been accused of hoarding e-scooters after a rider discovered a pile of them were on the grounds.

Remuera resident Ella logged onto her app on Monday morning to find one.

An Auckland school has been accused of hoarding Lime e-scooters.

'When I looked, there was like 20 of them at a school down the road,' Ella said.

She called Baradene College of the Sacred Heart to find out if they were using them for a specific reason as the majority of scooters available in the suburb were there.

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Ella said nearly 20 e-scooters were showing on her app at Baradene College of the Sacred Heart (file photo).

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More than 15 e-scooters were showing on the Lime app as being at the school at 12.30pm.

'They told me the students ride them to and from school and that they were having a prank day and I wasn't allowed to come and grab a scooter,' Ella said.

'It just made me very irate this morning.'

On the same day in Christchurch James Thomson tried to find two e-scooters with the app. After some difficulty he eventually found them locked in a parked car outside the Pioneer Leisure Centre.

He said he was 'pretty pissed off'. About half an hour later he returned to the car park and found the scooters were still there, locked inside the car.

Thomson said he assumed the scooters were being kept in the car without being hired, to be used later.

Baradene College principal Sandy Pasley said it wasn't true that the school was hoarding the e-scooters.

'I emailed Lime and reported the incident with the serial numbers. They could bar them from using them again.'

He had not received a reply from Lime on Monday evening.

Ella said the idea of the majority of available e-scooters in Remuera sitting at a school all day not being used didn't seem right to her.

'I think it's because they are currently sitting there, not able to be used from 9am until 3pm just so the kids can take them home,' she said.

'If they've got nearly 20 of them, they're clearly hoarding them.'

Ella said she wanted to use the e-scooter to go to the supermarket instead of walking or taking an Uber.

'I'm not willing to travel 5-6 kilometres out of my way just to pick up a scooter when they are meant to be convenient and used for everyone.'

Baradene College principal Sandy Pasley said the school wasn't hoarding the e-scooters.

'Some girls brought them to school but they are going back out onto the footpath soon,' Pasley said at 12pm on Monday.

At 12.30pm, no e-scooters could be seen on the footpath outside of the school and a number of them were still showing on the app as being on the property.

Pasley said she was sorry that Ella got the communication she did from the office and she could 'certainly come to the office and get one anytime she wants'.

'They've got different communication, certainly, they are there for public use.'

The Lime app asks users to park the scooters in designated bike parking spots or bike racks.

'Please do not park at inappropriate locations, including but not limited to entrances to hospitals and fire stations, inside gated communities, or in remote locations.'