Where have all the purple scooters gone? Photo / NZME
News that Beam scooters have vanished from Whangārei this month – in fact New Zealand entirely – has met with mixed reactions.
The purple scooters quietly disappeared from Whangārei around October 23, with users notified via the company’s online app.
Since then, social media has been alive with debate about them. Critics complained about the lack of monitoring, with scooters often ridden recklessly, left blocking pavements and even dumped in streams and rivers.
Fans praised the scooters as a fast, fun and affordable way to get around –especially for young people and those without access to reliable public transport.
Whangārei District councillor Nick Connop said he first saw a social media post about the company’s departure, then confirmed it with a former Beam employee.
A graphic on Beam’s website shows it only operates in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkiye and the US.
Beam announced in September it had merged with Neuron Mobility to become “the clear market leader in the Asia-Pacific region”.
Beam, a Singapore-based company, first brought its publicly shared scooters to New Zealand in October 2018 and expanded into Whangārei during December 2021.
Connop, a key supporter, was “quite sad” the scooters had gone.
However, he acknowledged they weren’t without issues, which were regularly reported to the council by the public. Complaints included scooters being ridden dangerously and left in inconvenient or hazardous places, such as on footpaths, in roadways and even thrown into streams.
Critics also claimed the scooters were inadequately monitored.
Connop said while some problems were caused by users, others were the result of interference by passers-by.
He called the disruptions “manageable” but acknowledged they were a “hindrance” to many.
Asked if he was aware of speculation that Lime scooters, which are affiliated with Uber, might replace Beam in Whangārei, Connop said he didn’t know of any plans but Uber’s new presence in the city could make it easier for Lime to enter the local market.
That said, he pointed out that e-scooter operations require on-the-ground support – runners to maintain and relocate the scooters – which differs from Uber’s driver-based model. Any new operator would need to address the same logistical challenges Beam faced.
Connop said he had taken a personal interest in the Beam scooters in Whangārei and, although not a Beam employee, often took it upon himself as a gesture of good citizenship to tidy up scooters he saw lying around town and even retrieve those dumped in streams.
Since the company’s departure, he had continued to monitor the situation and had been “doing the rounds” to collect any remaining scooters reported on social media.
Connop said he didn’t want the remaining scooters to become urban litter while the team figured out what to do with the lost Beams.
Last year, Beam faced mounting regulatory and operational challenges in New Zealand and a police investigation. Its licences were revoked in Wellington and Auckland after councils discovered the company had hugely underreported the size of its fleets.
These issues were part of a wider series of non-compliance allegations made against Beam in Australia around the same time.
The Northern Advocate tried unsuccessfully to contact Beam.
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast.