AusLeisure

Wellington City Council is installing new parking racks for e-scooters in busy areas around central Wellington from next week to provide spaces where scooters can be left safely out of the way of pedestrians.

The installation of the racks is mainly to accommodate the public share e-scooters at the 10 busiest places where people start or end their rides, although people who have their own e-scooters or push scooters can also use them.

The racks are known as Ruru racks as they resemble an owl’s face.

Wellington Deputy Mayor Sarah Free says the e-scooter parking will help to keep footpaths clear for pedestrians and provide much needed space for people to park scooters responsibly.

Deputy Mayor Free added “we know that e-scooters are well used for making short trips around the city, but the convenience has to be balanced by people being considerate as to where they leave scooters at the end of their ride.

“The new racks will give scooter riders more options for where they can park safely, and it’s good to find a solution to this contentious issue. We’ll keep an eye on how well they are used and install more or relocate racks if there’s demand in some areas and not others.”

Designed in Wellington by Richard Hovey, and made locally by Tilley Group Ltd with support from their Rongotai neighbours Goldmark Group, the Ruru racks will provide free parking for up to 93 scooters at a range of locations including:

• the waterfront – Whitmore Street, Queens Wharf (by Jervois Quay) and Taranaki Street
• Cuba Street at Ghuznee Street
• Cable Street at Tory Street (near Te Papa)
• Courtenay Place – near Taranaki Street and Cambridge Terrace
• Oriental Parade – near Waitangi Park, at Freyberg Pool and the Band Rotunda.

The e-scooter companies will redistribute their scooters to the racks in the morning when they have been recharged, and encourage their customers to use the scooter parking via their hiring apps.

Council Portfolio Lead for Climate Change, Tamatha Paul notes that the Ruru racks can also be converted to include e-charging for scooters and the Council may look at this and other e-bike charging options in the future.

Paul adds “all of these changes help to take the pressure off our public transport capacity and reduce the use of private cars and the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

In May this year, Councillors agreed in principle to the e-scooter scheme continuing from 2021. The current licences for Flamingo and Lime will end in December and in early 2021 the Council will ask for new expressions of interest from e-scooter companies to operate.

Installation of the Ruru racks will start Monday 12th October and is likely to take several weeks.

Image: Wellington Deputy Mayor Sarah Free, Tilley Group and Flamingo team courtesy of Wellington City Council

Related Articles

15th September 2020 - E-scooters relaunch across three of Adelaide’s coastal councils

21st August 2020 - Greater Wellington invites input on future of regional parks

13th August 2020 - New Wellington Convention Centre to be named Takina

10th July 2020 - Polytan upgrades Wellington’s Te Whaea sportsfield to international standard

11th June 2020 - Wellington City Council to offer free off-peak swimming in reopened aquatic facilities

26th May 2020 - Wellington City Council offers free ground and venue hire for sport and recreation groups

21st December 2019 - Wellington Gardens achieve CarbonZero certification

14th October 2019 - Wellington City Council consultation sees playgrounds transition to play spaces

7th October 2019 - Wellington crowned New Zealand’s most creative place for third straight year

7th August 2019 - Wellington named New Zealand’s fittest city

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.