Beam's bright purple scooters are already a familiar sight around Taupō's CBD and lakefront.
Beam's bright purple scooters are already a familiar sight around Taupō's CBD and lakefront.
The company that operates e-scooters in Taupō says they have measures in place to prevent them being left in unwanted places, and riders have been banned for bad behaviour.
The Beam e-scooters appeared on Taupō streets in November last year after the previous operator Glide pulled the pin on its operation in February 2022.
The scooters have been a polarising subject in Taupō, with many people using them, but social media is alive with complaints about them being left lying on footpaths and other unwanted areas.
Frederick Conquer, head of sustainability at Beam, said they had spent months working with the community before introducing their e-scooters and a new set of rules had been arranged with the Taupō District Council.
A council spokesperson said because the framework for e-scooter operations was in place from the previous provider, a formal public consultation was not needed for Beam to get started in the town.
Discussions with the council involved developing a ‘slow zone’ around the CBD, where the scooters’ speed automatically throttles back, and ‘no-go zones’ where they stop altogether.
Decisions around these zones were made in conjunction with the community, as well as using common sense and “being respectful of the special nature of the city”.
This included instituting a no-go zone around the lake edge at Waipāhīhī, which was done at the community’s request.
“This was not required by us as part of our council permit,” Conquer said.
St Johns Wood resident Pam McLeod gets out and about regularly on her electric wheelchair, but said the scooters can make this challenging because she relies on obstruction-free pavements to travel.
St Johns Wood resident Pam McLeod heads out down Tamamutu St on her way to visit her son. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
“They’re left in the middle of the footpath - if you’re in a wheelchair, then you can’t move them.”
She said e-scooter users, the council and Beam were not paying enough attention to the challenges that the scooters presented to locals and visitors with mobility difficulties.
“They really don’t care.”
She said the e-scooters could cause problems when in use as well.
“People just speed on them and don’t give any leeway to pedestrians at all.
“They think the footpath is made for them.”
Michelle Leong, Beam’s head of brand communication for Australia and New Zealand, said there were many safeguards in place to give everyone a good experience by preventing accidents and anti-social behaviour.
“If someone attempts to park in a no-go zone or no parking zone, the e-scooter prevents them from ending their trip and directs them back to a parking area.
“If the rider abandons the vehicle - a rare occurrence, given we continue to charge the rider - [the] rider continues to be charged for a period of time before an alert is sent to our local operations team that a vehicle has been parked inappropriately.”
Riders and members of the public can report concerns and feedback via the app, or contact details provided on the scooters.
Beam’s ‘three strikes’ policy has seen riders banned in Taupō, Conquer said.
The Beam app does not prevent users from parking on footpaths. Photo / Pam McLeod
“We’ve got a zero-tolerance policy [for] illegal behaviour.”
Beam employs about 10 people to keep the fleet going in Taupō.
The workers include a warehouse team for servicing and charging the scooters, drivers for picking up and delivering scooters, and staff who work on foot or on scooters who “whip around town and make the place look tidy”.
Comments on social media include blasting the scooters as “ugly” and “the stupidest idea ever”, but Taupō District Council says that most feedback has been positive, and complaints minimal.
Conquer said that Beam had largely received similarly favourable comments.
“People are interested in it, it’s quite a new technology”.
