Auckland Council will allow e-scooter operators to stay on the city's streets for another six months, with an increased fleet size.
Photo: RNZ
Three rideshare companies have a combined 1800 e-scooters on the streets and this number will almost double to 3200 with the extension of their license to operate.
This comes as police are investigating the circumstances that left a Lime e-scooter rider with critical injuries in Auckland late last night.
Auckland Council regulatory services director Craig Hobbs told Nine to Noon the benefits of e-scooters needed to be balanced with the safety of people on the footpaths.
"There are fewer incidents involving e-scooters than there is the likes of walking injuries, cycling injuries, standard scooter injuries and the likes. The problem that we're seeing [is] when there is an accident the consequences are pretty significant."
He said the licence trial and evaluation showed the number of incidents were declining as people got more familiar with the scooters.
Mr Hobbs said the council's role was limited to managing the licenses for rideshare e-scooters.
"What we've done is worked with the operators to negotiate some safety controls. Things that we're looking at is the geofenced areas again and the speed limit in those, currently it's 15km/hr and we hope the operators will consider a reduction in that."
He said regulating e-scooters ultimately sat with the central government, and the council was calling for it to introduce a regulatory framework for both private and rental scooters.
"There's probably an equal number of privately owned e-scooters out there and we have no control over those at all. That's why we're working closely with and urging the NZTA to change the regulations around these things so there is better control."
Auckland emergency physician James Le Fevre co-authored a recent paper highlighting the costs to the health system from e-scooters in their first year on the city's streets.
The research estimated injuries cost Auckland an average $2.2 million a year - or $1700 per e-scooter.
Dr Le Fevre said of the 770 reported injuries, 246 patients went to hospital and of those 27 percent were thought to have been intoxicated.
"Irrespective of what a given regulator does, I think people using e-scooters or any form of mobility device or transport need to be considerate of others. People need to use their own brains and travel at speeds appropriate to conditions. It's unwise to drink alcohol before going on a motorised vehicle, people may want to wear a helmet for their own safety. People may want to make some of these decisions for themselves," he said.
"There's going to be more of this and we're going to have to spend the resources comparing injury types and comparing risks and looking at the costs."
Lime spokesperson Lauren Mentjox said e-scooters were part of the transport network now and the rideshare company was delighted their licence had been extended.
"They are part of the transport network now and we need to work together to ensure the best way of going forward," Ms Mentjox said.
"Infrastructure is something that needs to be worked on, micro-mobility is something that's here to stay and we're seeing huge uptake."
She said Lime had recorded more than $4 million rides nationwide over the past year, with $2 million in Auckland.
Ms Mentjox said there was some research suggesting Auckland could cope with 30,000 e-scooters.
