Auckland's footpaths soon to be clogged with speedy yellow e-scooters

The Herald this morning got the chance to test ride an e-scooter in Wynard Quarter.

Gliding down the footpath at Auckland's Wynard Quarter on an e-scooter at close to 30km/h felt illegal but surprisingly it's not.

OnzO announced yesterday that it would be adding 2,500 e-scooters to its existing bike-share fleet of around 1,500 black and yellow bikes.

The Herald was allowed to test ride a sample e-scooter this morning.

There isn't a suitable app for it yet, nor even a maximum speed limit decided on for busy pedestrian areas.

The company's chief growth officer, Min-Kyu Jung, says they're working on that with Auckland Council right now and, more importantly it would seem, getting their code of practice for the e-scooters approved.

Jung is as confident as the bike is yellow, that it will be sorted shortly.

He says most people probably don't know there is no law for how fast e-scooters can go in New Zealand.

He says 30km/h is "probably too high", especially in places like Queen St where it can get busy with foot traffic.

Jung says the cost to hire the e-scooters hasn't yet been decided on.

"It will probably be more expensive than the bikes," he said. The bikes cost 25 cents per 15 minutes, which Jung says is "cheaper than anywhere else in the world".

He says they received lots of feedback from Aucklanders saying they felt unsafe riding bikes on the road and about a lack of bike lanes.

Jung says e-scooters seemed to be the perfect alternative - though OnzO do still plan on bringing in electric bikes too in the near future.

OnzO's chief growth officer, Min-Kyu Jung, says the first shipment of 500 yellow e-scooters is set to arrive by the end of October, with the rest to turn up in due course. Photo / Supplied

He says they plan to initially have staff pick up the scooters every day and charge them up at the warehouse but hope to set up a crowdsourcing system in the long term.

Jung says that will mean anyone can pick up a scooter, take it home, charge it overnight and then get paid for it. How much someone gets, he says, will depend on factors, including how much charge is left on the scooter, how difficult it was to find the scooter and how far away it was from a charging zone.

He says it's a top priority to ensure the streets are not littered with bikes and e-scooters but acknowledges there's only so much they can do.

Jung says it's up to people who use them to take responsibility and not stick them up trees or dump them in rivers.

"We do have some measures we are going to put in place to mitigate that effect."

Auckland Transport says it's working closely with Auckland Council on the recent interest in several companies wanting to introduce e-scooter share services.

"Any licence would be processed and issued by Auckland Council, on a trial basis as done previously with bike-share services.

"AT will continue to work closely with the council on ensuring the number of e-scooters offered in a service is appropriate for our streets," a spokesperson said.

OnzO announced yesterday that it would adding to its bikeshare fleet of around 1,500 black and yellow bikes with a further 2,500 e-scooters. Photo / Supplied