2019-04-15 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                  15 APRIL 2019


REPORT
The purpose of this report is to seek Council’s determination for an application received from
Neon Ride to operate electric scooters on Council controlled community land and further
consider the issues associated with shared mobility devices.

1.    Background

The first dockless electric scooter shared services commenced in San Francisco and Los
Angeles at the end of 2017 and have since expanded elsewhere in the USA and Europe. By mid
2018, scooter operators had planned rollouts of electric scooter offerings in Australia and by
November 2018 electric scooters were operating in Brisbane.

Neon Ride (NR) was established in September 2017 and is a wholly owned Australian start-up
company focused on shared mobility systems. NR has relocated to Noosa and developed an
electric scooter offering, which the company says will provide many benefits to the community.
The business employs a dockless operating model meaning the scooters do not have a fixed
home location, and are dropped off and picked up anywhere in the service area.

NR launched a two day trial on 8 March 2019 and reported the trial was a success with 105
people signed up with each scooter averaging 5 rides per day and has since sought a Council
permit to operate on community land for a three month trial period. Further details of the permit
application are included in this report.

2.    Current Local Government Practice - Electric Scooters

There are no known electric scooter hirers currently operating in Noosa on community land and
local governments across Australia are in the early stages of establishing management
frameworks for electric scooters and issues associated with their use in public areas.

Local government responses to electric scooter use include the following:

Brisbane City Council
    Temporary Permit offered to Lime in November 2018.
    Due to software issues leading to safety incidents, Council threatened to cancel the
      temporary permit unless the issues were rectified
    Currently, undertaking tender process seeking proposals from electric scooter ride share
      hire services. Tender closes 17 April 2019.
    Further safety incidents reported in the media on 4 April 2019.

Gold Coast City Council
    Lime and Ride scooters launched on the Gold Coast in December 2018.
    The scooters were subsequently impounded as both operators had set up operations on
      Council land without permission.
    The Gold Coast City Council is not currently pursuing this transport option but continues to
      monitor the use of electric scooters in other local government areas.

City of Port Philip
    Noted at its Ordinary Meeting of Council 5 December 2018 that electric scooter operators
      may commence operations in the municipality.
    Authorised the Chief Executive Officer or delegate to support a trial of legally compliant
      dockless electric scooters on Council land dependent upon managing insurance and other
      safety risks to Council associated with the activity.


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