Lime paid the price for technical glitches, and some at-times hard-nosed communications with the council and smack talk about council-approved competitors. It has to take its oats.
But there are three things that bug me about the decision to boot it out.
1. Core issues not addressed
Hobbs correctly noted the council - and its Auckland Transport division - have no control over whether helmets should be worn, speed limits or where e-scooters can be ridden.
It's currently technically illegal to ride an e-scooter in a cycle lane, but fine to zig-zag between pedestrians on a footpath or take your chances with traffic on a road.
A central government law change is needed to put rules around e-scooter use and far, far more cycle/micro-mobility lanes need to be put in place.
Those are the core issues, and they've caused huge problems, including one death, hundreds of serious injuries, thousands of crashes and a jaw-dropping - or should I say jaw-breaking - $4.3 million in ACC claims as we arrive at the first anniversary of Auckland Council's first trial.
Kicking out Lime does not solve them. Those cans just keep being kicked down the road.
In fact, we've gone backwards. As Brian Rudman revealed, NZTA quietly gazetted to absolve itself of responsibility for e-scooters on footpaths on the eve of Lime's launch.
2. A heap more e-scooters put on streets while core issues remain unaddressed
Hobbs said he hoped there would be changes over the next six months as the council and AT work with the Ministry of Transport.
I hope so too.
But it's curious that in the meantime, the council would raise the number of total scooters under phase three of its e-scooter trial - which lasts six months from Tuesday - from 1875 to 3200.
Granted, some of the new scooters will probably go to outer suburbs, that have been until now largely ignored (the council says it will give a breakdown between so-called tier 1, 2 and 3 areas later this week). But that's a big increase at a time when traffic rules and infrastructure issues are unresolved.
3. Que será, será
Lime major investor Uber is unlikely to lose much sleep over Auckland Council's decision, for Uber also owns Jump.
Jump's full name is Jump by Uber, though Auckland Council preferred to scrub all mention of the "U" word from its communications.
That's understandable from a PR point of view, given Uber just lost its license to operate its rideshare business in London over safety concerns, and is currently being lashed by the Wall Street Journal over alleged lax enforcement over basic driver safety rules.
Let's hope its scooter division keeps a cleaner sheet.
