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Wellington City Council Cancels Beam’s E-scooter Licence
Wellington City Council has cancelled micromobility operator Beam’s e-scooter licence following an investigation into allegations regarding the operator’s compliance with licence and code of practice conditions.
The Council suspended Beam’s licence to operate on 30 August 2024 and Beam e-scooters have been removed from Wellington streets since 1 September 2024.
Wellington City Council’s Chief Planning Officer, Liam Hodgetts, said that after suspending the license, staff had now had time to consider the information provided by Beam, reporting platform Ride Report, and the whistleblower, and have concluded that a material breach of the licence has occurred.
“It is now clear to us that there have been breaches of Beam’s licence to Trade in Public and the Operator Code of Practice. Of particular concern is the admitted breach of the e-scooter cap, and failure to communicate openly with the Council regarding these breaches. We have also found Beam’s responses to be inadequate and as a result there has been a loss of trust and confidence.”
The Council received an audit report from Ride Report which confirmed that between 26 July 2023 and 21 June 2024 Beam’s e-scooter cap had been exceeded by an average daily maximum of 100 e-scooters (with the highest during this time being 185 e-scooters ).
“This is consistent with the Council’s own findings,” Mr Hodgetts said. “This is not a decision that we have taken lightly. However, Wellington City elected members set a cap on the number of e-scooters that could be deployed at any time specifically to ensure a balance between having enough devices to meet demand while reducing the risk to pedestrians of footpath clutter. This has clearly been breached and as such we deem termination of the licence to be the most appropriate course of action.”
Council officers will now consider options for next steps for e-scooter provision in Wellington City between now and the next tender round for licences in March 2026.
Beam’s licence will be cancelled as of 11:59pm today (13 September 2024).
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