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The suspension of Lime scooters in Auckland has been lifted, which means they will likely be back on Dunedin streets soon.
The end of the suspension was subject to a range of conditions, which Lime had agreed to verbally, including that Lime was required to report "serious safety incidents" anywhere in the world to Auckland Council within 48 hours.
Lime will also be required to report "serious safety incidents" anywhere in the world to Auckland Council within 48 hours.
Every scooter will have to undergo a mechanical inspection at least once a week and Lime would be required to have at least 10 "ambassadors" to teach people how to use e-scooters safely".
Lime had verbally agreed to the new conditions set by council, but was expected to provide an official written response later today.
It was likely they would emerge back on Auckland streets tomorrow, once Lime had formally agreed to the conditions.
The suspension was being lifted on the basis the company will operate within new guidelines set by council.
The council told Lime it was not good enough that the learnt about serious incident via the media, not from the company.
"We expect to be told when these issues occur."
Kimpton said it was "not good enough" safety issues relating to Lime scooters came to council's attention through the media - rather than from the company itself.
The council placed a temporary ban on the e-scooters last week amid growing safety concerns after a number of people were injured while using them.
Lime then voluntarily removed the scooters from Dunedin streets following discussions with Dunedin City Council.
Dunedin council community services general manager Simon Pickford said yesterday he had been in touch with his counterparts in Auckland and Dunedin would follow suit after a decision was made.
He said there had also been discussions about how to avoid such problems in the future.
"We're going to be talking to Lime about finding out more about rider incidents.
"In the future if there are any incidents like this, if there are any patterns evolving, we want to know earlier."
Mr Pickford said "on the face of it, from a technical point of view", the issue seemed to have been fixed.
Asked if he expected the scooters to be back on the streets today, Mr Pickford said the report was a positive step.
"I think Lime are all ready to go. Obviously if they get the sign-off tomorrow they could be back on the streets tomorrow or over the weekend."
A Lime spokeswoman said the company had provided all information requested by the Dunedin City Council, and had also deployed a firmware update to resolve the wheel-locking issue.
"Our local operations team are actively performing quality assurance checks on all scooters in Dunedin.
"We are confident that this issue has been eliminated and are looking forward to being back on the streets of Dunedin as soon as possible."
Auckland Council chief operating officer Dean Kimpton said the information was being reviewed and the council hoped to provide an update on the status of Lime's licence today.
The Lime e-scooter fleet in Christchurch is set to expand by 300 to 1000 after a decision reached at a city council meeting yesterday.
With ODT