RIDE scooters confirm their vehicles can break city 15km/h speed limits
The limit to ride a scooter on Adelaide footpaths is 15km/h but one of the current operators has been clocked doing far more clicks.
City
Don't miss out on the headlines from City. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Lime and Beam scooters slam Adelaide City Council
- How to get the most out of your Advertiser digital subscription
One of Adelaide City Council’s chosen scooter providers has conceded it is failing to comply with two mandatory requirements of its operating licence.
The Advertiser has obtained video of a RIDE scooter clocked at 20km/h. The speed limit is 15km/h.
It is believed to have been filmed last week on the Rainbow Walk in Light Square, city.
Responding to the video, which was sent anonymously, RIDE chief executive Tom Cooper said the company “does limit” its scooters to 15km/h but it was “possible” to exceed that limit.
“That video could be showing that scooter going slightly downhill,” Mr Cooper said.
“We are constantly monitoring things like that.
“Currently in the tender, the scooters don’t have to have braking when going downhill. We’re introducing automatic braking in the new tender process. We are doing our absolute best to comply with everything and we believe we are doing a good job.”
Mr Cooper’s explanation still means RIDE is non-compliant with the council’s specification that “e-scooters are restricted to 15km/h, including on downhill descent”.
Mr Cooper confirmed RIDE had also failed to comply with a requirement to have 500 scooters available across the city. RIDE has, at most, deployed 400.
“We’re very comfortable with what we are doing with regards to that,” he said.
“The last two independent tenders (for the CBD and metro coastline) have both come to the same conclusion and selected the same two providers (RIDE and Neuron).”
RIDE will continue to operate in the city, while Neuron will replace Beam, under contracts awarded last month and running until January 31, 2022. Beam and fellow competitor Lime said last week they had “serious concerns” with the council’s tender process.
Mr Cooper said the response from the rival businesses was “disappointing for the entire industry”.
The council is conducting an internal review of the process, expected to be concluded this week.
Lime spokesman Mitchell Price said his firm contacted the council more than six months ago about concerns RIDE scooters could “easily be (made) to go faster”.
“We were told later by council that it had been working with RIDE and the issue had been rectified,” he said. “This is just another example of the council rewarding an operator that has failed to meet the current permit conditions, and continues to fail.”
Beam spokesman Brad Kitschke said: “If RIDE has conceded it can’t comply with one of the mandatory criteria, then it should be excluded from consideration. This is clear evidence the rules are not applied equally by council and there is no due diligence or checking of a company’s claims.”
An Adelaide City Council spokesman said it would discuss the video with RIDE “at the earliest opportunity”.