Wellington City Council has canceled Beam’s license to operate e-scooters on its streets, following a similar decision by Auckland Council.
The council suspended Beam’s license at the end of August and removed its scooters on September 1 after finding that the company breached its operating conditions.
Chief Planning Officer Liam Hodgetts stated that Beam had exceeded the allowed number of e-scooters in Wellington. Beam was only permitted to operate 500 e-scooters and 150 e-bikes, but it was discovered that the company went over the limit by up to 185 scooters on some days between July 2023 and June 2024.
The council’s decision was based on the need to keep the streets safe and prevent footpath clutter. Wellington’s rules are meant to balance the availability of e-scooters while protecting pedestrians. Similar breaches were found in Auckland, where Beam allegedly exceeded its fleet size by up to 40% in some areas and provided misleading data to appear compliant.
Wellington City Council will now look at options for new e-scooter providers before the next license review in 2026.
