Beam scooters probed by City of Darwin after allegations of local government fraud

City of Darwin is concerned about allegations against purple scooter provider Beam. Read why they’re worried.

As allegations of local government fraud by purple scooter provider Beam Mobility gain momentum, City of Darwin said the terms of its contract with the embattled company should quarantine ratepayers from being scammed.

The Australian newspaper has reported Beam Mobility allegedly put “phantom” scooters on streets in Australia and New Zealand to allegedly cheat local governments out of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and other charges.

Late last year City of Darwin announced Beam Mobility would deliver 500 scooters, 150 e-bikes and 100 seated scooters, effectively taking over orange scooter company Neuron Mobility’s Top End contract.

City of Darwin chief executive Simone Saunders, councillor Ed Smelt and Beam Mobility general manager Tom Cooper announce the arrival of Beam e-scooters in Darwin last year. .

Endorsing the new contract alongside City of Darwin councillor Ed Smelt in November, City of Darwin chief executive Simone Saunders said Beam “complement and align with many of our values and strategies”.

The Australian reported the Singapore-based operator is being investigated by at least five local governments including Brisbane, Auckland and Canberra for manipulating monitoring technology to exceed caps on the numbers of scooters and bikes allowed.

A City of Darwin spokesman said the organisation is “concerned” by the reports of “alleged unethical conduct” by Beam.

“The operation and approvals for micromobility vehicles in the Northern Territory differs to other Australian States and therefore the alleged data reporting scam does not directly apply to the Darwin context,” the spokesman said.

“Even though City of Darwin is not affected by any reporting anomalies, we expect that our suppliers and partners conduct themselves to the highest standards of integrity, honesty and transparency, and we will continue to uphold these high expectations on behalf of our community.

“We will be meeting with Beam to discuss the reported allegationsand, while they have assured us there has been no data discrepancy regarding any reporting from Beam to the City of Darwin, we will be seeking further assurances that they are operating in line with all relevant regulatory, reporting and license conditions.

“The alleged unethical conduct does not affect the safety or operation of the micromobility vehicles.”

Scooters have been zipping through Darwin since 2020 when council approved their operation in the city.

It’s estimated the scooters were used almost one million times a year.

A Beam Mobility spokesman confirmed it “undertook a program” to optimise the number of operational vehicles available to the public “in a limited number of jurisdictions”.

“The optimisation program was limited to a small number of council areas, which did not include Darwin.”