Two Dockless Electric Scooter Services Are Being Trialled in Wellington

Following a fleet of 400 dockless electric scooters hitting the streets in Hutt Valley, Wellington City Council has selected two companies to roll out the trial of the city's first electric scooter sharing scheme.

Licences will be given to locally owned startup Flamingo and the Uber-affiliated Jump. The two companies were selected following an evaluation of all of the five operators who submitted proposals. In the same format as US-born company Lime, which lost out for the trial, Flamingo's florescent pink e-scooters will cost $1 to unlock and 30 cents per minute to ride. Jump is yet to reveal its pricing.

Users of the Uber-owned Jump scooters will reserve their ride through the transportation giant's app. NZHerald reports that Flamingo is creating its own app for a fleet of Segway Ninebot scooters, the  same Chinese-made e-scooter used by Lime. The startup has a trial licence for 400 e-scooters.

A start date for the trial has not yet been decided but is likely to be towards mid-2019. The trial will initially last six months, but can be extended by 12 months to allow time for consultation and policy engagement.

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester says the trial will help the Council to determine the city's policy around micro-mobility transport, which includes e-scooters and bike share schemes. "As in other cities, transport is continuing to evolve. We want to make sure people have easy access to different ways of getting around – whether they're just travelling across town or commuting to work. The e-scooter trial means we can test the demand, how e-scooters fit in the context of Wellington, and rider behaviour."

The other companies to approach the Council to operate an electric scooter share scheme in Wellington were Blip Scooters, Fuutr, Lime, Onzo, Scoot International and Goat.

Image: Flamingo.