Lime is bringing its popular dock-less 'sharing kickscooters' to Christchurch and (probably) to Auckland and Wellington. According to Stuff's article 700 Shared electric scooters to be let loose on Christchurch streets the city council has approved a trial that is expected to begin later this month. If successful, the number of scooters deployed in that city is expected to double. Lime is best-known for deploying thousands of Ninebot by Segway KickScooters across dozens of cities in the United States. An application is currently before Auckland Council to deploy 1,000 scooters in New Zealand's largest city. Scooter sharing businesses rely on a having a critical mass of devices deployed and scattered around a town, so there is likely to be an scooter nearby and ready for use whenever someone wants one. This is a classic example of the multiplying power of what is known as 'the network effect.' Scooters can be found by simply looking about, or via a map displayed by the Lime App that shows the location of all nearby scooters. According to the Stuff article the scooters will cost $1 to unlock and $0.30 per minute to use:

The scooters, which operate in more than 80 places around the world, will cost $1 to unlock and 30 cents per minute to use, or $18 an hour. Users find, unlock and pay for them using an app. The dockless system means people can leave them at their destination.

Users are required to be 18 years of age or more. Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel is particularly enthusiastic about Lime coming to the city, citing the flexibility that kickscooters (defined as 'wheeled recreational devices' fitted with auxiliary motors with up to 300 Watt power output) offer city-dwellers:

Mayor Lianne Dalziel said not having to wear a helmet was what she loved about the scooters. "All of the evidence shows that wearing a helmet puts you at far greater risk than not wearing a helmet and that is because people assume that if you are wearing a helmet you are safer than you are. I don't feel the same way about children. I think children should wear helmets. "Let grown-ups be grown-ups. Let people take some risks but also have some fun." She said the top speed of 27kmh was not the speed the scooters would normally be ridden at. "I just think it will take off and do really really well."

Christchurch considers itself a city that is open to trying new ideas, and doubtless deployments of Lime scooters in Auckland and Wellington will follow (Lime is advertising for an Operations Manager in Wellington here). In the view of Stuff's Blayne Slabbert, Electric scooters could be Kiwi answer to congestion. In USA Lime deploys the Ninebot by Segway ES1/ES2 Kickscooters, to which Lime attaches their own custom, lime-coloured box that contains immobiliser/mobiliser, GPS and QR/barcode reading components that work in conjunction with the Lime App. Earlier this year Lime launched their Lime-S Segway Edition version kickscooter, powered of course by Segway. It is expected Lime will deploy Segway KickScooters in New Zealand, too. According to our information, a locally owned scooter sharing start-up business is also likely to launch in at least one of these three cities, providing competition to Lime. Similarly, opportunities likely exist for Kiwi businesses wanting to offer dock-less shared scooters and/or docked hire scooters (i.e. return to point-of-hire) in smaller towns, at hotels and resorts, on worksites, and on campuses. The self-balancing Segway PT and Segway miniPLUS are also suitable for these roles. Segway New Zealand invites start-ups and other interested parties to contact us on 0800 2 SEGWAY because we offer a complete Segway-built, out-of-the box solution that includes our latest commercial grade KickScooter, client App, and complete back-end support that automates customer billing, location data, safety/incident reporting, etc.