Lime scooters: 12,000 e-scooter helmets stolen in 10 months in Brisbane
Lime’s Brisbane e-scooter venture has notched up more than 1.5 million e-scooter rides in just 10 months, but in the same period it has seen helmets stolen at a rate of more than 40 a day, and the company admits there is no solution to the issue in sight.
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Global electric scooter company Lime has had more than 100 million rides since launching two years ago and has now passed 1.5 million rides in Brisbane in the past 10 months.
But it has also had 12,000 of its helmets stolen since it launched here in November, 2018, or more than 40 a day.
Rival Neuron Mobility has reported a similar number, about 600 in the first fortnight after its launch in Brisbane on August 5.
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While both companies said they were working on a technological solution, Lime spokesman Nelson Savanh said that for now they had to hope the ‘novelty’ of souveniring a helmet would wear off.
“It is not considerate of other riders and we would hope people think of other potential riders’ convenience and safety,’’ he said.
“A deposit scheme is not something we would want to do and there is no tech solution as yet.’’
Lime’s government policy director, Mitchell Price, said a “Brisbane’’ helmet might help address shortages caused by thefts.
“(Recently) I penned a letter to Brisbane City Council suggesting that now we have three operators in the mix in Brisbane — CityCycle, Neuron, Lime — how about we think about a Brisbane helmet?’’ he said.
“That would allow the city to purchase the helmets because they have to purchase them now for CityCycle.
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“That’s a cost to the ratepayer, so in a situation where they’re already being purchased for bikes, if we’re able to purchase them together the city might buy 100,000 helmets and they’d be at a higher volume and higher unit cost.
“We would be able to have more helmets, we’d be able to have them in libraries, in Council buildings, in cafes.
“You’d be able to pop into a council building, pick up a helmet that is fresh and clean.
“Helmets are a challenge and we’ve gone through quite a lot. I know we’ve set the bar pretty high. There have been times when it’s been a challenge to meet that bar.”
A Council spokeswoman said it would consider the idea.
“Under State Government law, helmets are mandatory for people using e-scooters and bicycles,’’ she said.
“Brisbane City Council does not regulate or enforce helmet laws.
“Council received a letter with a suggestion to introduce a single helmet option in Brisbane.
“Council will consider the suggestion put forward in the correspondence and provide a response in a timely manner.’’
Mr Savanh said its research showed there was potentially great unmet demand for its scooters.
In the past few weeks it had been surveying users. About 90 per cent of the 4300 respondents said they had not been able to find a scooter at some point.
Many of the respondents also suggested extending scooter availability — currently restricted for both Lime and Neuron to the CBD, South Bank, South Brisbane and inner Brisbane — to suburbs such as Toowong, St Lucia, Indooroopilly, New Farm, Newstead and Bulimba.
“Brisbane has rapidly adopted this smart mobility solution,’’ Mr Savanh said.
“Rider feedback has told us that 46 per cent of Lime rides are taken in place of a car trip and nearly 50 per cent are taken to access public transport.
“The council holds a contract with Lime, but reduced its fleet from 750 e-scooters to 400 in July to allow for 600 Neuron scooters to roll out.
Neuron has had more than 25,000 unique users in Brisbane, its head of operations Kelvin Hoo said.
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