7 Nov 2018

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Christchurch’s shared electric scooters are proving a hit, with 107,000 kilometres being clocked up on them in their first two weeks of operation.

American bike and scooter share company Lime officially launched its Christchurch fleet of e-scooters on Monday 15 October after being granted a permit by Christchurch City Council to operate them in the city on a three month trial basis.

A woman on a scooter.

E-scooters are proving popular with Christchurch riders.

Today the Council’s Infrastructure, Transport and Environment Committee received an update on how the scooter trial is going.

The scooters are spread throughout Christchurch and are dockless so users find, unlock and pay for them using an app. At the start of November more than 30,000 people in Christchurch had downloaded the app and taken at least one trip. Collectively the scooters have been used for more than 87,000 trips.

On the average trip, riders are travelling just under 1km.

Safety statistics presented to the Committee show that in the first week the electric scooters were available in Christchurch and Auckland, ACC received 14 injury claims. In that same week ACC received 112 injury claims related to non-electric scooters.

Council Transport Operations Manager Steffan Thomas says the trial is still in its early stages but the scooters are getting lots of use, particularly in the central city.

“They are proving a popular way of getting around. But we’ll need to do a thorough assessment of their impact before we decide whether to extend the permit beyond the three month trial period,’’ Mr Thomas says.

As part of that assessment, the Council will be setting up a reference group comprised of public representatives and staff from the NZ Transport Agency, the Police, the Canterbury District Health Board and Environment Canterbury.

The reference group will meet to review the impact of Lime’s shared scooter service and to track how the trial is progressing. Part of the group’s work will involve making recommendations on how to address issues that may arise from having e-scooters on Christchurch’s roads and footpaths.

Lime’s permit is due to expire on 15 January but the Council is likely to grant them an extension through until February, which is when Council staff are due to bring a final report on the trial to the Infrastructure, Transport and Environment Committee.

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