Lime's Electric Scooters Are Being Removed From Auckland Streets

California-owned transportation company Lime will have to remove its fleet of bright green electric scooters from Auckland streets by next week. The company was unsuccessful in renewing its e-scooter operation license with Auckland Council.

The e-scooters first landed in Auckland in October 2018 as part of a three-month trial. Since then they have been on and off the streets due to a series of brake malfunctioning issues. One person — 23-year-old Toben Hunt — was killed after an e-scooter incident and more than 2000 riders have been injured — with claims for ACC e-scooter injuries topping $1.7 million in Auckland alone.

Lime's e-scooters are unlocked using the company's app and have an approximate range of 48 kilometres and top speed of 27 kilometres an hour. Helmets are not supplied, however users are required to state that they will wear one as part of the terms and conditions.

Brisbane-registered company Wave — which were trialled with a lower speed limit of 15 kilometres per hour in heavy pedestrian areas — was also unsuccessful in the Council's application process. Both Lime and Wave will be required to deactivate their e-scooters by midnight on Monday, 2 December and have all devices off the streets by the following Friday.

Auckland Council says that applications "were assessed against the requirements of the Trading and Events in Public Places Bylaw and were considered to ensure that the applicants could demonstrate the ability to comply with the Rental E-scooter Code of Practice (version 3)."