Could Nelson be New Zealand's next e-scooter destination?

Sunday, 28 November 2021

Palmerston North is the latest city to grant e-scooter licences to micromobility companies Beam, Lime, and Flamingo.

Nelson could be the next destination for e-scooters in New Zealand, with the Nelson City Council inviting a company to put the idea to the council.

In recent years, councils in New Zealand’s major cities have been granting licences for shared e-scooters and e-bikes, with the trend beginning to move towards provincial centres.

Most recently in October, the Palmerston North City Council granted licences to Lime, Beam and Flamingo for 600 e-scooters to become available for hire.

At a Nelson City Council infrastructure committee meeting last Thursday, Beam expansion manager Frederick Conquer put forward a presentation about the possibility of bringing micromobility to Nelson.

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Conquer said Beam had been invited to speak at the committee's public forum by the council, following “extensive consultation' with staff.

The first of e-scooter operator Neuron Mobility's distinctive safety orange e-scooters will be on Christchurch streets from October 1, 2021.

This included a formal approach to council to look at a shared micromobility scheme, primarily involving shared e-scooters but also including e-bikes.

The introduction of e-scooters could also prompt a change to council’s Parking and Vehicle bylaw, which currently prohibits the use of e-scooters on footpaths in certain areas.

Conquer said introducing an e-scooter system would help to both improve the vitality of Nelson’s city centre, as well as providing an option for more sustainable transport.

He said safety was also a major focus for Beam. Along with its vehicles requiring helmets to operate, and in-app safety training as a requirement for riders, the e-scooters had internal controls to regulate their speed in certain areas.

Over the past two years (from October 2018 to January 2021), ACC claims from e-scooters totalled just under $15 million.

Councillor Matt Lawrey asked whether e-scooter hire schemes resulted in fewer vehicle movements in the cities which had adopted them.

Conquer said while he did not have detailed figures, it amounted to “an extensive amount of trips”, which could be expanded on in a report to council.

Lawrey also asked whether e-scooter hire would continue to be viable as they became more accessible to the private sector.

Conquer said shared e-scooters tended to be “a pathway to micromobility” – getting people who hadn’t been on a bike or scooter for a long time back into active transport.

“We generally find they then tend to go out and buy their own e-scooter or e-bike which helps to build a stronger cycling and scooter culture for the city.

“But people still use [shared e-scooters] – not everyone brings their bike or scooter into the city, or they might have a group of people with them, so we find it’s generally building a stronger system.”

Councillor Yvonne Bowater said she was nervous about allowing e-scooters to be used in areas such as the shared pathway into Nelson.

Conquer said those issues could be addressed by the use of power and speed limitations on e-scooters and bikes.

“[In those areas] we would look to apply a 'slow zone’, when the vehicle's GPS picks it up coming into those areas, they automatically slow down to 12-15kmh.”