Lime scooter glitch: Auckland Council's handling of trial attacked amid licence suspension

Saturday, 23 February 2019

An Auckland councillor who was nearly hit by a Lime e-scooter has attacked the local authority's 'outrageous' decision to extend the company's licence in the first place.

Lime scooters were pulled from the super city's streets overnight after Auckland Council and Auckland Transport temporarily suspended the firm's trial due to safety concerns.

Council chief operating officer Dean Kimpton says there had been 155 'irregular braking incidents' reported across the country, 92 of which were in Auckland.

Following Friday's announcement, councillor Chris Fletcher issued a statement ripping into the council's earlier decision to extend the trial.

**READ MORE:

* Lime e-scooters ordered off Auckland streets over wheel-locking issue

* Lime confirms e-scooter fault caused by software glitch

* Lime has one-day deadline to explain safety glitch to Auckland Council

* Auckland Transport boss says Lime must prove e-scooters are safe by Friday

* Lime admits to e-scooter fault which locks up wheels at speed, causing 'excruciating' injuries

* Government looks set to impose 10kmh Lime scooter speed limit

* Auckland mayor orders urgent scooter safety probe after councillor nearly hit**

Fletcher previously backed a council probe into the safety of Lime scooters, after she was almost hit by one of the two-wheelers on her way to a Auckland Council meeting last October.

On Friday, she backed Kimpton for 'his leadership in suspending this licence'.

'He said safety is non-negotiable and I agree with him,' Fletcher said.

'It is outrageous to me that a temporary license was agreed to for Lime scooters to operate in Auckland without due consideration being given to all the complex safety issues involved.'

The onus was on Lime to demonstrate the safety of its product, she added.

'They now have the opportunity to do this without an ill-conceived trial taking place potentially injuring even more Aucklanders,' Fletcher said.

'I apologise to everyone who has been hurt unnecessarily by this trial.'

Kimpton said the suspension would be reviewed on Monday.

But councillor Chris Darby, who has been a strong supporter of Lime's presence in Auckland, said he was disappointed by the decision.

'For me personally, I'm really disappointed that it's come to this, but the evidence is there and we have to take action based on that,' he said on Friday night.

Lime scooters had been a 'raging success' in Auckland, he said, despite the technical issues and injuries reported by users.

'It's had massive uptake, probably one of the biggest uptakes of e-scooter sharing in the world – I understand from Lime the success here outstrips their second most successful market, which is Paris,' Darby said.

'That said, road safety and the wellbeing of Aucklanders is paramount.

'Tens of thousands of rides have taken place, but we have to put safety first.'

Nevertheless, Darby wanted to see Lime scooters back on the streets eventually.

'But they need to satisfy our request for information that confirms that their software glitch, if it's labelled as such, is resolved,' he said.

'We need to be absolutely assured that these braking issues are resolved.'

Kimpton said Lime was expected to remove its scooters from the streets as soon as practicably possible.

Darby believed the scooters would have disappeared from Auckland streets by Saturday morning.

Lime, a Californian company, launched in Auckland and Christchurch in October. In January, it was announced its Auckland trial had been extended until the end of March.

People have since reported a raft of injuries, including broken bones and head injuries, after falling from Limes.

ACC has paid out more than $200,000 for e-scooter-related injuries in the past few months.

Meanwhile, the Government was continuing to look at law changes that could impose a 10kmh speed limit for the e-scooters.