Lime scooters to roll onto Hamilton streets this Friday

Lime Scooters will roll out onto Hamilton streets this Friday. Photo / File

Lime scooters will roll out onto Hamilton streets this Friday with residents able to use them throughout the city.

The rollout will be part of a six-month trial approved by Hamilton City Council, with more applications from operators expected over the coming weeks.

A total of 600 e-scooters will be for hire in Hamilton during the trial period. Around 200 will be arriving in Hamilton this Friday with the remaining e-scooters anticipated to arrive next week.

The e-scooters can be ridden throughout the city but will be focused on the central city, Hamilton East, Hillcrest and Hamilton Lake areas.

They can be ridden on footpaths and roads and will feature geofencing which automatically reduces speeds in certain areas to make it safer for users and pedestrians.

These areas include the central city entertainment and dining precinct, Garden Place and Centre Place and the speeds will be limited to 15kmh. There will also be low speed zones along the Waikato River.

There will be a dedicated e-scooter parking zone at Hamilton Gardens. However, the devices will not be able to be ridden within the grounds of the Gardens, over the boardwalk section around Lake Rotoroa (Hamilton Lake Domain) or at Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park.

The e-scooters are dockless, which means they can be left anywhere safe within the city. A team of local "juicers" will be recruited by Lime to retrieve, charge and deploy the e-scooters each day.

Users will be able to download the Lime Scooter app on their phone to find and unlock scooters for use. There is a charge for using them which is based on distance.