Townsville City Council cancels agreement with purple e-scooter company Beam Mobility

Townsville City Council has ended its agreement with purple e-scooter company Beam Mobility, following the lead of other Australian cities. Think it was the right call? HAVE YOUR SAY IN OUR POLL.

Kanami Uchikura, from Railway Estate, with a Beam E-Scooter. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Embattled global e-vehicle company Beam Mobility has had its agreement to operate its purple e-scooters cancelled by Townsville City Council due to compliance issues and an unfolding scandal involving the under-reporting of scooter numbers.

It adds to a growing list of cities to suspend or terminate their agreements over the past week, which includes Brisbane, Auckland, Wellington, with Darwin also launching an investigation.

Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson said the council was investigating what the contract with Beam Mobility would look like in the future as it investigates the use of e-scooters in the city.

He said the company was contracted to provide 300 scooters in the area.

“We’re not immune to the fact that other councils, particularly in Victoria and Auckland have made decisions but we make our own decisions based on facts,” Mr Thompson said.

“We’ve got information to say that it’s not a good deal for us at this time.”

“To be pretty blunt about it we know it’s exceeded 300 so I think it’s important to understand that but we also have got to establish what exactly was used, and then we’ll get those numbers back as soon as we can.”

Matt Stone Racing duo Jake Kostecki and Zane Goddard ride Beam scooters on The Strand. Picture: Matthew Elkerton

“Council is continuing its investigation into the company’s noncompliance with the contractual conditions, given recent revelations of Beam’s under-reporting of active scooters,” the spokeswoman said.

“Council has communicated this decision to Beam and asked for the prompt removal of all Beam e-scooters from Townsville’s public spaces by October 2.

In a statement released on Wednesday morning, a Townsville City Council spokeswoman said the council had ended the agreement with e-scooter company Beam to operate in Townsville.

Beam will have to roll its scooters out of Townsville.

“E-scooters were introduced to Townsville following the establishment of a commercial permit system in 2020, and council is reassessing the options for future e-scooter operations within Townsville.”

The council’s agreement with Beam included a cap of 300 e-scooters to ensure the amenity of the city’s open spaces and the safety of footpath users.

With their aircraft-grade aluminium frames with a dual braking system and best-in-class battery, Beam e-scooters first rolled into Townsville in October 2020, providing competition against Neuron Mobility which were introduced a month earlier.

E-scooter company Beam launched 200 of its scooters in Townsville in 2020. Photo: Shane Reid

The Singapore-based company operates in 37 locations in Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Asia and Europe, where it is required to pay registration fees on each vehicle and/or a percentage of a fare paid by riders.

It is now under investigation in Australia and New Zealand for ­secretly putting “phantom” scooters on streets in excess of contract­ed caps on the number of licensed e-vehicles allowed in each city.

Brisbane City Council will refer Beam to the corporate watchdog, and possibly police, after an internal audit found it had deployed an average of 500 extra scooters every day into the city, about 27 per cent over its cap of 1800, during a 12-month period to July – costing ratepayers an estimated $330,000 in fees.

Auckland City Council found that its licenced cap had been exceeded daily by an average of 40 per cent.

Originally published as Townsville City Council cancels agreement with purple e-scooter company Beam Mobility