'A bomb is going to be dropped on the footpath', warns councillor as e-scooters get Wellington green light

Thursday, 14 February 2019

Limes have soared in popularity since being launched in Auckland and Christchurch in October. In December, a man was caught on video riding one of the e-scooters over the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

City councillors scrambled to design e-scooter rules on the fly as they made a decision to put hundreds of e-scooters onto Wellington's streets.

Wellington City Councillors voted in a dockless e-scooter trial by eight votes to five amid warning their arrival would be like a 'bomb' being dropped on the city's footpaths.

The six-month trial will be awarded to two companies and will likely see a minimum of 600 of e-scooters zooming through the streets of the capital by the middle of March.

Wellington-based scooter operator Flamingo was one of the ones who submitted on Thursday.

But the decision came with so many last-minute amendments two councillors said the trial would be a 'a dog's breakfast'.

Transport sharing company Lime has launched its operation in Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt with around 400 e-scooters. (First published December 2018).

* E-scooter companies jostle for position on Wellington city footpaths

* Rideshare businesses clock over 125,000 trips in Wellington and Hutt**

Ahmed Al-Jumaily, left, and Tima Al-Saedy from Taranaki-based Blip are among those who have expressed interest in being part of an e-scooter trial in Wellington.

Lime e-scooters could roll out in Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Dunedin and Queenstown.

Mayor Justin Lester, who backed the trial, told Stuff the debate was a 'more complex meeting than normal'.

'The debate today, and the vote, is a fair reflection of genuine community concerns.'

Rules attached to the trial multiplied at the council committee meeting as six recommendations were extended out to 17 and councillors looked to block off disaster scenarios of increased footpath congestion and accidents.

Among the additions were a $45 per scooter fee, an instruction council officials work to keep e-scooters off the footpath in the CBD and suburban shopping areas, a rule each have a 'unique visible registration number', a speed limit on the waterfront and a requirement they 'keep left'.

Councillor Brian Dawson said councillors were making policy on the fly and the trial would be 'a dog's breakfast'.

Rules will restrict them from the footpaths of the CBD and suburban shopping malls.

'We are falling rapidly into a mistake that I have seen over and over again on various different bodies and that is we are currently re-writing policy around this table'

Dawson said councillors were going to end up a blot of mismatched policies by tacking 'amendment after amendment after amendment' to the work of council officials.

Lime told the council safety concerns were overblown.

'This is not a good way to do our job, people.'

Malcom Sparrow, who spoke afterwards, agreed: 'I think the term dog's breakfast is probably a pretty accurate description of where we're heading. There are so many inconsistencies.'

E-scooters have been operating in nearby Hutt Valley since December.

Pressure mounted on councillors after forceful submissions from representatives of the city's disabled community and pedestrians opposing the e-scooters.

Ellen Blake, from Living Streets Aotearoa, said many of the rules council could apply would be 'unenforceable'.

Another submitters, Paul Hutcheson, who is blind, said he was concerned about major safety issues for pedestrians from e-scooters.

'No citizen of this city expects to go out on the footpath in the morning and be maimed.'

Councillor Sarah Free, who holds the cycling portfolio, said she'd been swayed by feedback to vote against the entire trial: 'I feel like a bomb is going to be dropped off on the footpath.'

'It's been driven by the fact scooter companies want to use our footpaths to run a business.'

E-scooter sharing has been both hugely popular and beset with problems since Lime launched its service.

At the meeting Lime representative Sam Seinger disputed many of the safety concerns raised and said the number of ACC e-scooter accident and injury claims had remained flat as the number of Lime scooters doubled.

Seven e-scooter companies have expressed interest in operating in Wellington: Lime, Flamingo, Fuutr, Onzo, Scoot, Blip and Goat.

Which two companies are granted trial licences is yet to be decided.

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