New round of rental e-scooter licences on horizon
Auckland Council is reviewing new applications for the next round of rental e-scooter licences. Successful companies will be able to start operating on 3 September 2020.
Currently, there are three operators providing rental e-scooter services across Auckland. Their licences expire on 2 September 2020.
Here’s some further information about the upcoming e-scooter application round.
Timelines
Date | Action |
1 July - 22 July | Receive applications for review in upcoming licence period |
23 July - 19 August | Review applications, decide successful candidates, and confirm conditions of licence |
20 August - 25 August | Licences issued |
3 September | New licence period begins. |
Fees
All applications
- There is an application deposit of $5000 per application, for approximately 25 hours of work. Any additional time taken to review applications over and above the application deposit fee will be charged at the council’s hourly rates.
Successful applicants
- We require a compliance monitoring deposit upon the issue of licence for a successful applicant, which is $5000 per licence. Any additional compliance or monitoring work over and above the deposit fee will be charged at the council’s hourly rates.
- There is an annual license fee for rental e-scooter operators of $379.
- Successful applicants are also charged the following rent for street trading:
Licence type | Basis for charging | Rent from 1 July 2020 (incl. GST) | ||
Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | ||
Micromobility: Two e-scooters per m2 One e-bike per m2 | Per 12 months period or any part thereof
| $146/m2 | $89/m2 | $20.00/m2 |
Allocation
Before a licence is issued the council and operator agree on the maximum number of e-scooters that can be deployed by the operator in each tier across the city. All suburbs in Auckland are categorised under the following three tiers:
Tier 1 | City centre (excluding Karangahape Road which is in Newton) |
Tier 2 | Browns Bay, Takapuna, Birkenhead, Devonport, Ponsonby, Herne Bay, Freemans Bay, Mission Bay, Grey Lynn, Newmarket, Ellerslie, Howick, Epsom, Kingsland, Milford, Mount Eden, Newton, Parnell, Remuera, St Heliers |
Tier 3 | All other suburbs |
Final decisions on allocation for the upcoming licence period will be made after successful applicants are confirmed.
Strengthening the application process
We are continuously improving our e-scooter licensing processes and have updated our e-scooter Code of Practice and e-scooter licence assessment criteria for the next round of licences.
Code of Practice
The rental e-scooter Code of Practice (CoP) is the key tool that we have to work with operators on setting good standards for their operations.
The latest version (V4) comes into effect on 3 September and includes the following enhancements:
- More specific detail required by operators for a safety risk management plan
- updated accident and incident definitions and reporting requirements
- an increase from 85 to 90 per cent for our parking compliance requirement
- a requirement to work with Auckland Council and AT, Waka Kotahi and other agencies in the development and provision of safety and nuisance reduction initiatives
- specific font size and location for unique ID on each e-scooter
- incorporation of council and AT parklets within operator apps.
Read more about how we improved the Code of Practice and licence conditions for rental e-scooters, following our two e-scooter trial periods.
Assessment criteria
As part of the assessment criteria for this round of licences, a joint Auckland Council/AT policy team has created a New Mobility Principles document to help assess applications against some of the outcomes in the Auckland Plan.
Visit the council’s e-scooter web page to find out more about e-scooters in Auckland and applying for an e-scooter licence.
