Lime gets rival as new e-scooter company approved for Brisbane streets

The number of Lime scooters on Brisbane streets will be slashed after Council approved plans for a second e-scooter company to operate in the River City.

THE number of Lime scooters on Brisbane streets will be slashed after Council approved plans for a second e-scooter company to operate in the River City.

Brisbane City Council today announced Neuron Mobility will be allowed to operate 600 scooters in the city from July 22 after they outbid seven other companies in a competitive tender process.

Lime’s operating permit has also been extended for 12 months, but they will only be allowed to roll out 400 scooters – down from its current arrangement of 750 scooters – capping the total number of e-scooters in the city at 1,000.

Both companies will have to pay a flat fee to the council, which BCC yesterday refused to reveal, citing commercial in confidence arrangements.

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Neuron Mobility is a Singapore-based company, which has been operating 300 scooters in Darwin since April.

A man collects a Neuron Mobility electric scooter from a parking station in Singapore. The company has been approved to operate in Brisbane. Picture: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg News

Deputy Mayor Krista Adams said Neuron had put together a “very strong” bid, saying their “generation two” scooters were larger, more stable and had a lower centre of gravity.

“We’re happy to work with Lime scooters,” she said.

“They’re looking at options too to upgrade their offering and we think with two people in the market, we’ll have a better chance of doing this.”

Cr Adams also defended the commercial in confidence arrangement for the council’s permit fees, insisting that they were trying to get the “best value” for ratepayers.

But she could not guarantee if the companies would increase the price of their service to cover the cost of the permit fee.

The council had previously revealed they had planned to charge Lime about $111,000 in fees to operate for a three-month period.

Rebecca Purcell was the one millionth user of Lime Scooters. Picture: Tara Croser

The Deputy Mayor also said the current e-scooter 25km/h speed limit may be too fast on some busy CBD streets.

“We’re working with the State Government on that and the modes of speed on the new scooters are something that we will be interested in to talk with our tenderers (about) as well,” she said.

“The precinct for the use of scooters is staying the same.”

Neuron’s first 200 scooters will hit Brisbane streets on July 22, with all 600 to be in operation by August 20.

Lime’s public affairs manager Nelson Savahn said they were excited to remain in Brisbane for another 12 months.

“Lime has paved the way for scooters in Australia and we have demonstrated our commitment to offering a safe, easy and green transport solution,” he said.