Lime's scooter suspension continues while council awaits more info

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay pictured getting around Auckland on a Lime scooter last month before the operator's licence was suspended. Photo / Instagram

Auckland Council is waiting for the final pieces of a review into electric scooter operator Lime's safety and management and processes before making a decision about whether to lift its suspension.

The council suspended Lime's licence on Friday after a safety defect causing the scooter's brake to lock was identified injuring 30 people in Auckland. It warned the operator to fix the issue if it wanted the scooters to be allowed back on the city's footpaths.

The review by international specialist consultancy Exponent landed with council bosses on Tuesday afternoon.

Auckland Council chief operating officer Dean Kimpton said more information is still on its way and had been promised to them before the close of business on Wednesday.

"Lime's independent reviewer, Exponent, has indicated its review is continuing and that it will provide further information to that already delivered, by the end of the day on Wednesday."

Auckland Council and Dunedin Council both suspended Lime's licence on Friday amid growing safety concerns following a number of incidents in which the front wheels on the e-scooters unexpectedly locked.

A decision on whether to lift the suspension would not be made until the council had reviewed all the information, Kimpton said.

Lime is paying for the Exponent review as part of its contract. The report had initially been expected to be provided to Auckland Council by Monday.

Exponent's role is to analyse the firmware fix applied to the scooters to address the unexpected locking issue.

It was also given full access to Lime's operations and data in order to review its safety management and processes.

Should the suspension be lifted, Lime would be required to provide incident frequency over the period of the trial and provide a full update on progress against the licence extension conditions.

Council and AT would also be provided with details about all incidents on a 48-hour frequency and meet with council staff on a weekly basis to discuss the incident record, analysis and Lime's response.

Lime advised council last week that 155 irregular braking incidents had been reported which may have been caused by the unexpected locking issue - 92 of which were in Auckland, and of those 30 resulted in injury.

The scooters were expected to be removed from Auckland's streets by Saturday. Since the scooters were introduced in Auckland last October there have been reports of a raft of accidents and injuries from both riders and pedestrians with one man suffering a broken jaw and another woman fracturing her neck and losing a tooth.