Wellington City Council has suspended Beam's e-scooter licence while it investigates claims the company has breached its terms. Photo: RNZ
Wellington City council has temporarily kicked e-scooter company Beam off the city's streets, following allegations it has run a larger fleet of e-scooters than it is allowed to.
Beam's licence was also cancelled in Auckland on Tuesday for the same reason.
Wellington City Council said a report from reporting platform Ride Report showed Beam had operated on average an extra 100 e-scooters more than it was meant to between 26 July 2023 and 21 June 2024, which was a breach of its licence.
Its licence is suspended as of midnight on Friday, and the company must remove its e-scooters and e-bikes from the city by 5pm on Sunday.
In a statement, Wellington City Council chief planning officer Liam Hodgetts said staff were continuing to work through information from Beam and Ride Report.
The information about the e-scooters was concerning and the council had decided to temporarily suspend Beam's licence to trade in public, effectively stopping Beam from operating in Wellington City until the council's investigation was completed and a final decision made, he said.
"Wellington City elected members set a cap on the number of e-scooters that could be deployed at any time to ensure a balance between having enough devices to meet demand while reducing the risk to pedestrians of footpath clutter. As such we cannot continue to have Beam operate while we continue our analysis of what has happened," he said.
The council said Beam must remove its scooters and e-bikes from the city by 5pm Sunday 1 September 2024.
Wellington City Council said it would not be making further comment until the investigation is completed.