Beam scooters will be removed from public places in Canberra by September 13. Photo: David Murtagh.

The Australian Capital Territory will withdraw all Beam Mobility shared electric scooters from Canberra following an investigation into concerns about the operator’s compliance with permit conditions.

All of the Singaporean company’s purple e-scooters in Canberra will have to be switched off by midnight on Sunday 8 September and removed from public places by 4pm on Friday 13 September.

“Last month, Transport Canberra and City Services staff received information that Beam had been acting in breach of its permit conditions by manipulating data,” said Ben McHugh, deputy general manager of Transport Canberra and City Services.

“Beam has been granted a permit to operate 950 e-scooters in Canberra, including specific numbers (limits) for different regions in our city. These limits are designed to promote the safety of other road users and also reduce the risk of the scooters being perceived as a nuisance… we believe Beam has failed to meet the expectations of the Canberra community in its permit to operate and therefore will not be renewing its permit.”

Beam Mobility’s purple, stand-up electric scooters have also been banned in Brisbane, Townsville, Auckland and Wellington. They have been operating in the ACT since 2020. Orange electric scooters from rival Neuron Mobility will continue to be available for use in Canberra.

Orange Neuron scooters will continue to be available for use. Photo: Supplied.

Last week, Beam CEO Alan Jiang said in a statement that his company was aware of the vehicle overages and apologized for them.

He said an independent auditor would be appointed to conduct a full review of Beam’s operations. A preliminary report, to be released, is expected by the end of September 2024.

Mr McHugh said the restrictions on the number of scooters were intended to ensure competitive neutrality with Neuron, and that the availability of the technology was spread across Canberra.

“To ensure limits are met, we monitor e-scooter deployments through the Ride Report platform, which is used across Australia and other countries, including New Zealand,” he said.

“Our investigation included correspondence with Beam, field inspections and working with City Software Solutions, the company that manages Ride Report. We also worked with other jurisdictions in Australia and New Zealand to reach our decision.”

Mr McHugh said the Australian Capital Territory Government would continue to support e-scooters to encourage more active forms of travel and as part of a last mile solution.

“While this case is very disappointing, there is a clear market for e-scooters as part of Canberra’s transport mix. We want to continue to support more sustainable modes of transport that reduce car use. We will be undertaking an expression of interest to secure suppliers for the longer term. More information will be provided once the approach to the market process is finalised.”