22 Feb 2019

Auckland Council gives Lime midday deadline for scooter safety assurances

6:35 am on 22 February 2019

Electric scooter operator Lime has until midday to prove to Auckland authorities its scooters are safe.

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Photo: Supplied

Several people have been catapulted off the scooters by a braking fault that randomly locks up the wheels.

Auckland Council and Auckland Transport have repeatedly sought assurances from the company that there will be no further malfunctions.

"Auckland Council has formally written to Lime twice this week to request urgent updates to allow any next steps from a licensing perspective to be decided on," chief operating officer Dean Kimpton said.

Lime's license was last month extended to the end of March.

"We have also asked Lime to provide information on the number of scooters affected, the technical issue leading to failure, its proposed solution including how it will manage pulling affected scooters off the streets, and assurance there will no further malfunctions."

This week the Auckland Transport chair Lester Levy told RNZ he wanted them off the streets unless there was solid proof the whole fleet is safe.

Lime has until midday today to provide details of the number of scooters affected, what the problem was, and how the company has solved that.

"We have set out high expectations for scooter safety for Lime's customers and other road users as part of Lime's licence extension, and we expect issues like this to be raised with us as a priority. Customers have an expectation that these services are safe to operate.

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