Lime calls for e-scooter riders' support with app campaign after Auckland Council ban

Saturday, 23 February 2019

Lime have asked Auckland users to share support by emailing Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and Auckland Councillors.

E-scooter company Lime is calling on riders to lobby Auckland Council to allow it to continue operating in the city after its scooters were pulled over safety concerns.

On Saturday, users who signed in to the Lime scooter app were greeted with a pop-up message stating: 'Keep Lime in Auckland. We need your support.'

The message continues: 'We need you to take a moment to share your support for Lime with Auckland's mayor and councillors', before providing a link which allows users to send an email to the council.

The e-scooters were withdrawn from the streets of Auckland and Dunedin after reports of wheels locking up, throwing riders off and causing injury.

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Auckland Council's chief operating officer Dean Kimpton confirmed on Friday that Auckland Council and Auckland Transport had decided to 'temporarily suspend' the e-scooter trial in the region due to safety concerns.

The message on the Lime app on Saturday states that since the launch of its e-scooters in Auckland last October, Aucklanders had collectively ridden 28 times around the globe.

On Saturday morning in Ponsonby, a handful of Lime scooters could still be seen - now they are all gone.

Nearly one million trips had been made on Lime scooters in the past four months, it added.

The support email users are being urged to send states nearly 209,343 Aucklanders have 'hopped on' the scooters, and many of the trips would have replaced a trip in a car.

COUNCILLORS 'SWAMPED'

Albert-Eden-Roskill ward councillor, Cathy Casey, said the emails in support of Lime were being sent through to every councillor in Auckland - resulting in council members being bombarded.

'It's silly, I'm getting about three to four emails [a minute] that are all saying the exact same thing but with a different name signed on it my phone is just constantly pinging.'

Casey said she wasn't able to find any other emails that were coming through due to the rate at which Lime users' emails were flooding in.

'I'm struggling to find anything, it'll be a nightmare on Monday trying to reply to anything important.'

The sudden slew of emails had surprised Casey as she believed the council had generally been 'very supportive' of e-scooters.

'It's just a health and safety thing - they need to fix the risks the scooters pose to get the licence, so I don't understand why I'm being sent thousands of emails, it's just annoying.'

North Shore Ward councillor Richard Hills said on Twitter that he was a Lime user and had been backing the company, but said the mass emails wouldn't help get councillors on side.

'I can't even reply to supporters as it's just one email address - suspension is due to Lime's defect not Lime opposition.'

A spokesperson for the Mayor Phil Goff's office said it had received a number of emails on Saturday that would be dealt with on Monday.

'The decision to take Lime scooters off the road for 48 hours was made by officials because Lime was not able to prove that its scooters were safe for people to use. While we appreciate the amenity that e-scooters offer, we can not and should not compromise the safety of Aucklanders.'

At 5pm, almost 3,000 emails had been sent in support of Lime.

The suspension of Lime scooters will be reviewed by Auckland Council on Monday.

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