Townsville becomes latest Aussie city to cancel Beam Mobility e-scooters
Another Australian city has banned rented e-scooters from its streets.
Townsville City Council in Queensland’s far north this week decided to terminate its contract with e-bike rental company Beam Mobility, citing issues with compliance and underreporting of the number of scooters in the city.
This comes after Brisbane and Darwin suspended their contracts with the e-scooter company last week.
At least 300 purple e-scooters will be removed from Townsville over the next four weeks.
Mayor Troy Thompson described the contract with Beam as “not a good deal for us.”
“To be honest, we know the number has passed 300, so I think it’s important to understand that,” Townsville Bulletin reported.
‘But we also need to determine exactly what was used, and then we get those figures back as quickly as possible.
“We have information that indicates this is not a good deal for us at this time.”
Townsville City Council has voted to terminate its contract with Beam Mobility after compliance issues and under-reporting of the number of scooters in the city
The number of e-scooters was limited to 300 at the start of the contract in 2020, to ensure safety in open spaces and on footpaths in Townsville.
When the Beam e-scooters were introduced in the city, they posed competition to Neuron Mobility, which had started operating a month earlier.
Council is currently reviewing options for future e-scooter operations in Townsville.
“The board continues its investigation into the company’s failure to comply with contractual terms, given recent revelations about Beam’s underreporting of active scooters,” the board said in a statement.
‘Council has communicated this decision to Beam and requested the immediate removal of all Beam e-scooters from Townsville’s public spaces,’
Beam has been operating in Townsville since 2020 and had a maximum of 300 e-scooters to operate daily (stock photo of a driver and a Beam e-scooter shown here)
The Singapore-based company operates in 37 locations across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe and charges a registration fee for each electric vehicle and/or a percentage of the amount drivers pay to rent one.
In Australia and New Zealand, Beam is being investigated for using ‘ghost scooters’ on the streets to avoid the speed limit.
Brisbane City Council will refer the company to the regulator and has not ruled out going to police after an audit found Beam was averaging an extra 500 scooters a day in the CBD.
With a maximum of 1,800 scooters, the company exceeded the permitted number of scooters by approximately 27 percent.
The 12-month investigation found that taxpayers missed out on $330,000 in costs.
Beam recently lost contracts in Brisbane and Auckland after investigations found they exceeded their daily allowance (stock image)
In Auckland, the limit was found to be an average of more than 40 percent daily.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Beam Mobility for comment.
It’s the latest chapter in what appears to be a revolt against e-scooters in Australian cities.
Electric scooter rentals in Melbourne’s CBD will soon be a thing of the past, following a spate of complaints about the popular vehicles, which the mayor says are clogging up the city’s pavements and posing a tripping hazard.