Lime job ad for people to return e-scooters to Auckland's streets after glitch

Tuesday, 5 March 2019

Lime is looking to pay six people $152 each to help return its e-scooters to Auckland's streets after they were removed because of a glitch which sent riders flying.

On an app called MyTask, Lime made a listing, calling on six people to redistribute its scooters within an eight hour period. 

MyTask is a New Zealand app which allows businesses to outsource tasks to locals. 

Auckland Council gave the e-scooters the green light to return on Saturday morning after its licence was suspended. But they have not yet returned. 

**READ MORE:

* Lime e-scooters' return to Auckland streets delayed

* Lime admits to e-scooter glitch which locks up wheels at speed

* Lime says it's fixed dangerous brake bug, Auckland Council's stand is 'disappointing'

* Lime e-scooters off Auckland and Dunedin streets over wheel-locking issue** 

A software glitch caused the e-scooters' wheels to lock up resulting in people being thrown off.

Auckland Council suspended Lime's licence on February 22 until Lime proved the glitch could be sorted. 

The job ad listing said the group of six people would be paid $912 in total for eight hours of work. 

The date for returning the scooters to Auckland's streets was 'before March 10, 2019' in the afternoon, the listing said.

One user commented on the listing, asking why Lime was not using or offering juicers - workers who typically collect and recharged the scooters overnight - the task to redistribute the scooters.

​Lime's figures showed the glitch caused 155 'irregular braking incidents' across the country, resulting in 30 injuries – 19 of which were in Auckland. 

Mitchell Price, Lime's director of government affairs and strategy, said the malfunction only affected less than a fraction of a per cent of all Lime trips in New Zealand – just 0.0086 per cent.

'But we also know that each trip is not really a number - it's a rider and a member of the community – so any case is one too many,' Price said.

ACC has paid out $643,000 for more than 1300 e-scooter-related injury claims since October to mid-February.

An Auckland Council spokeswoman said she believed the e-scooters would be back on the street by the middle of the week.