Lime pushes for exclusive e-scooter rights on Christchurch streets

Wednesday, 13 February 2019

E-scooter company Lime launched in New Zealand with hundreds of scooters scattered across Auckland and Christchurch. (Video first published in October 2018)

Lime wants exclusive rights to operate its e-scooters on Christchurch's streets – and is disputing the cost of a proposed licence fee.

An exclusive deal is unlikely to happen after Christchurch City Council staff labelled any such move as 'anti-competitive' and against council policy.

The council is proposing to issue the California-based company a 12-month permit to operate a fleet of 1000 scooters, up from the existing 700, at a cost of $86.25 per scooter per year. The fee was based on the amount of space the scooters would take up on the footpath, which had been calculated as half a square metre.

Christchurch City Council is proposing to issue Lime a 12-month permit to operate 1000 scooters, at a cost of $86.25 per scooter per year.

But, in an email to the council, Lime said it believed its e-scooters took up just 0.29 square metres and therefore the rate should be $49 a scooter.

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A city-wide limit of 1600 e-scooters was being proposed by the council, leaving room open for another operator to put 600 scooters on the streets.

But, Lime was pushing hard for exclusive rights. It has offered to pay $83 per scooter per year, but only in exchange for exclusivity. It also offered to pay the council $200,000 up front to cover four years of exclusive rights to operate an unlimited number of scooters.

Lime also raised the issue of introducing a 5 cent tax per trip, which it believed would contribute more than $100,000 annually.

Lime said the proposed fee was 'almost punitive'. It already paid GST and corporation tax in New Zealand and had created more than 30 jobs in Christchurch.

Stuff has calculated Lime could earn more than $10m, before costs, from its Christchurch business during the next 12 months.

Council staff said the process was 'not a negotiation' and the aim was to develop 'a clear and consistent policy' able to be applied to other operators.

Council transport policy planner Nick Lovett told the council's infrastructure, transport and environment committee on Wednesday, the council's proposed fee was 'fair and reasonable' as Lime was receiving a property right to sell and display their goods on public land.

'Any concepts of exclusivity raise several issues around anti-competitive practices and could be counter to the existing policy frameworks for trading in public places.'

A limit of 1600 had been placed on the total number of scooters to avoid a saturation point where scooters were sitting around not being used, Lovett said.

The limit was based on three to four scooters per 1000 residents.

The committee recommended the council approve a 12-month permit to allow Lime to operate 1000 scooters, at a cost of $86.25 per scooter per year.

Lime 'juicer' Charlotte Mayne told the committee Lime did have staff overheads and there were about 50 active 'juicers' who collected the scooters at night, charged them and dropped them back off at designated locations the following morning.

'A number of people are taking home a reasonable income from the work. A number of juicers are contemplating doing it full time.'

Christchurch woman Helen Broughton, also a community board member, said inappropriate behaviour of scooter users needed to be resolved and she wanted police to dish out tickets to those using them incorrectly.

Cr Aaron Keown said there had been a lot of hysteria surrounding the scooters, and he did not want it to become 'the end of the world' if someone died while using one.

People died in public spaces, on trucks, buses and on the sports field, he said.

'The flip side to that is the amount of people no longer using cars, there are more people on buses … they have added an incredible value to the city.'

He said the scooters had brought thousands of people into the central city at no cost to the council.