News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[mshagg]

I guess the only other available option to make this work is turning it into a one way st. Given you cant even traverse waymouth st from west to east (without detouring around light sq).

[Llessur2002]

Lime e-scooters riding out of the CBD, purple and yellow variations coming in

Lime electric scooters have been given the boot from the CBD.

Adelaide City Council has today announced Lime had not won a permit to continue operating its green e-scooters on city streets.

Instead, Singaporean company Beam and Australia start-up RIDE were granted permission to each bring up to 500 scooters to Adelaide for the next six months.

Lime says the move has left it “sour” and the company wants an independent review of the snub.

The council’s operations director, Beth Davidson-Park, said Lime would be asked to remove its scooters by Monday, April 15, ready for the new operators to move in.

“The first trial clearly showed e-scooters are a convenient form of transport, with more than

140,000 trips recorded and we’re confident that they will continue to be popular as Beam and Ride commence operations next week,” Ms Davidson-Park said.

“The City of Adelaide is glad to support the continuation of this trial and pleased to announce these two new operators, providing people with even more options for getting around our city.

“The e-scooters will be available throughout the city and the operators have also advised council they will be hiring local employees, which is good news.”

According to council documents, the two successful companies must each operate a minimum of 50 scooters and up to 500.

Four operators were short-listed following an Expression of Interest process, and each had to demonstrate how speed, braking effectiveness and parking now and in the future would be managed.

The e-scooter permit is limited to the city and is bounded by the River Torrens and West, North, South and East terraces.

If they go outside the geo-fenced area or into Rundle Mall, where they are not permitted, the e-scooters notify the user and safely slow to a stop.

The second trial will end in mid-October, which will determine whether e-scooters should become permanent.

Lime is calling for an independent review of Adelaide City Council’s scooter decision process after failing to extend their permit.

Lime’s Director of Government Affairs Mitchell Price has announced a media call at Parliament House in Melbourne to express his disappointment in the decision.

“Council asked Lime to make their scooters stop suddenly at the edge of the service zone, which would have put our riders and members of the community in danger so we drastically decreased the speed,” he said.

Mr Price said Lime had worked closely with local and state government throughout the trial to mitigate issues and provide a premium, green and accessible transport alternative to residents and visitors.

“City Council has placed 250 jobs on the chopping block, which is why it is imperative this process is reviewed,” he said.

From: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenge ... 6109e126c7

and

REVEALED: Lime e-scooters squeezed out

Lime e-scooters will be removed from Adelaide city footpaths by the end of the week because the firm failed to enforce council-imposed geographic boundaries, InDaily can reveal.

InDaily this morning revealed that the council has asked Lime to remove all its e-scooters from city streets after two of its competitors successfully bid for the new permit.

Lime’s 500 e-scooters will be removed by Sunday and replaced with e-scooters produced by two other companies.

In a confidential email to councillors last night, obtained exclusively by InDaily, a senior member of the council’s administration said Lime had declined to force its e-scooters to slow to a stop if they go outside of a set of council-imposed boundaries.

“Lime’s e-scooter was not able to come to a stop when entering a prohibited or restricted area, it demonstrated that the e-scooter could reduce to a speed of 4km/h but users would still be able to ride the e-scooter at a walking pace,” the email reads.

“Lime indicated that it would not stop its e-scooters in restricted areas, based on Lime’s own safety reasons.

“This did not meet the requirements of the evaluation…”


The council-defined boundaries of the “geofence” – and restricted areas inside the CBD – that e-scooter providers are expected to uphold. Image: supplied

The email – which stresses “this information is not publicly available and should be treated as confidential” – says Lime was able to meet “the majority of evaluation requirements but (its) submission did not provide all requested information and so, together with the inability to meet the required performance in the demonstration, did not meet the requirements of the EOI”.

The council expects Lime to remove all of its scooters by midnight on Sunday, threatening fines if the company fails to comply.

The email says a press release about the decision will be distributed today, and that the council expects “media interest”.

The council distributed a media release after InDaily contacted the administration for comment this morning.

Late this morning, Lime released a statement expressing disappointment at the council’s decision.

Lime Asia Pacific director of government affairs Mitchell Price said:

“We are shocked and disappointed to hear Council have chosen not to extend our permit in Adelaide, after a successful trial resulting in more than 144,000 rides and 41,000 riders.”

“Council asked Lime to make their scooters stop suddenly at the edge of the service zone, which would have put our riders and members of the community in danger so we drastically decreased the speed.”

However, InDaily understands the council required the scooters to slow to a stop when taken beyond the geofence, rather than abruptly stop.

“City Council has placed 250 jobs on the chopping block, which is why it is imperative this process is reviewed,” said Price.

“This is a loss for the entire city.”

Lime’s 500 e-scooters will be replaced by 250 produced by Melbourne-based company Ride and another 250 produced by Singapore-based company Beam.

The council expects Lime to remove all of its scooters by midnight on Sunday, threatening fines if the company fails to comply.

Ride and Beam will begin distributing their e-scooters around the CBD on Monday.

The Melbourne-based company will be collaborating with local small business EcoCaddy and a local battery manufacturer as part of its operations, according to the confidential email.

Ride’s scooters are customisable and according to the email, “considered to be more user friendly than other operators, with a lower centre of gravity, rear wheel drive and brakes, wider handle bars and adjustable steering column height”.

It also met all permit conditions including geofencing.

Beam’s e-scooters also “demonstrated a high-quality product”, including:

“Advanced technological customisations for its product”
“Technical details on the management of e-scooters in congested areas and incentivising users for good behaviour”
Council director of operations Beth Davidson-Park told InDaily the council welcomed the new operators and that they “put forward a stronger expression of interest” than Lime and another shortlisted but ultimately unsuccessful company, Neuron.

“They met the requirements for on the request for (expressions of interest) on all points and therefore they were successful,” said Davidson-Park.

“Their operation, their equipment and their capacity to deliver was the best of the applicants.”

She declined to discuss why Lime failed to meet the evaluation criteria, telling InDaily, “that information is still commercial in confidence”.

From: https://indaily.com.au/news/2019/04/11/ ... eezed-out/

Despite having used the Limes a few times now, I didn't really know about the Rundle Mall and Hindley Street exclusion zones. Now I know why I can never find a scooter a block either side of the Mall...

I also find it really confusing why North Adelaide always seems to be excluded from this sort of thing. If you believe the rhetoric around businesses dying up there you'd think any effort to get people to visit North Adelaide from the city would be jumped upon. But yet the scooters can't be taken there and there is still considerable opposition to the tram...

[Nort]

I guess the only other available option to make this work is turning it into a one way st. Given you cant even traverse waymouth st from west to east (without detouring around light sq).

It will introduce a lot more traffic congestion in the morning if traffic heading to the Topham Mall carpark has to go via King William Street.

Hopefully whatever works they do are relatively non-disruptive, Waymouth Street businesses have already have to put up with a lot of road and pavement works over the past 18 months.

[ml69]

I guess the only other available option to make this work is turning it into a one way st. Given you cant even traverse waymouth st from west to east (without detouring around light sq).

It will introduce a lot more traffic congestion in the morning if traffic heading to the Topham Mall carpark has to go via King William Street.

Hopefully whatever works they do are relatively non-disruptive, Waymouth Street businesses have already have to put up with a lot of road and pavement works over the past 18 months.

How is using Pirie/Waymouth for the bike route even remotely possible without ripping up every car park and loading zone space on the street? Businesses on the street are going to go apesh*t.

How can ACC not see this coming?

[Kasey771]

I guess the only other available option to make this work is turning it into a one way st. Given you cant even traverse waymouth st from west to east (without detouring around light sq).

It will introduce a lot more traffic congestion in the morning if traffic heading to the Topham Mall carpark has to go via King William Street.

Hopefully whatever works they do are relatively non-disruptive, Waymouth Street businesses have already have to put up with a lot of road and pavement works over the past 18 months.

How is using Pirie/Waymouth for the bike route even remotely possible without ripping up every car park and loading zone space on the street? Businesses on the street are going to go apesh*t.

How can ACC not see this coming?

You're assuming that they didn't? I'm a skeptic I'll believe the EW bike way is going to be built once I see it U/C

[mshagg]

How can ACC not see this coming?

They probably do, and why I wonder if it's a crafty strategy to finally kill the thing entirely.

[ml69]

How can ACC not see this coming?

They probably do, and why I wonder if it's a crafty strategy to finally kill the thing entirely.

You (and others) are probably right, but why play these games?

Supporters of the EW Bikeway aren’t going to go away .... they will simply propose an alternative route.

I think Bike SA are stupid for supporting the Pirie/Waymouth route. Even if they prefer it themselves, we all know what will happen to this proposal when it involves ripping up every car park and loading zone on the street ... it’ll eventually fail.

[Eurostar]

The Market Plaza Food Court is now closed for renovations

[SRW]

InDaily reports that the Crow's vision for a facility at Park 2 should be publicly available this afternoon ahead of a confidential pitch to council next week. Apparently council will also be making key decisions on the 88 O'Connell and Central Market projects in September. Starfish and C&G are rumoured to be the contenders for 88 O'Connell, with buildings up to 16 stories -- taller than council's guidelines -- supposedly part of their proposals.

[Nathan]

So... one lap pool instead of the current lap pool, dive pool, and leisure pools; who knows what with the other facilities; and since on the same (shrunk down) site, that means the community will have no pool at all during demolition and construction. What a great deal for the community!

Adelaide Crows reveal plans for training building on site of North Adelaide Aquatic Centre
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenge ... 5520f3cb33

The Adelaide Crows plan to demolish the Aquatic Centre and build a new public swimming pool as part of its plan to move its headquarters to North Adelaide.

In front of a packed Adelaide City Council gallery on Tuesday night, the football club released its $65 million controversial plan for the training and administration complex.

The building, located entirely within the existing footprint of the Aquatic Centre, would be no higher than two storeys and separated into three integrated sections – a new aquatic centre, a community building and a training and administration building.

The current oval on Barton Tce West would be upgraded to AFL standard, with a surface similar to that of Adelaide Oval.

Other ovals on the site would be retained and not fenced.

Crows chief executive Andrew Fagan said the club was offering a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”.

He said if the plan was accepted by the council, the club wanted to partner with another organisation to deliver the best possible aquatic services. He assured the gallery the pool would remain open to the public.

“We are not professional swimmers, we are a football team, we only use it on a casual basis,” Mr Fagan said.

An Adelaide Crows spokesman at the meeting said it would be a “centre for the community that celebrates the club”. There would be no permanent liquor licence at the proposed venue.

In June, Adelaide City Council gave the Crows permission to start designing concept plans for a training and administration complex at the council-owned Aquatic Centre.

Over the past 10 years, the council has spent $18 million on the ageing centre.

A new report said up to $21 million more would need to be invested into the site to bring it up to scratch. However, it would do little to improve services or reduce its burden on ratepayers.

Adelaide Parklands Preservation Association president Shane Sody said the centre and Parklands should be retained for public access.

[obituary resider]

Gotta admit I have been completely blindsided by the fact that they are proposing demolishing the existing facility and starting again from scratch.

They have quite possibly misread the lay of the land in terms of what is going to be pallatable for the community / Council. Even with the retention of the existing building it was always going to be ideologically difficult to propose a private entity operating such a sizable chunk of the Park Lands, but a completely new build feels even more "private". I had also assumed they would propose a joing operating model with council where they have instead proposed arranging for a separate private operator?

Having said that Council are shoe-strung by the cost of operating and mainting the facility in its current state.

Interesting times ahead!

[Ben]

As a crows supporter I feel this is very underwhelming. They are correct about it being a once in a generation development so it would be disappointing for the current proposal to get the go ahead. I can't see this getting the majority support from either the council, residents or even supporters. Perhaps they are constrained because of the rules surrounding development in the parklands, and if that is the case, they should seek an alternative location where something truly special can be built for the community and fans alike.

[Patrick_27]

Love the design, love the fact that this portion of the parklands will be maintained by the AFC (so it'll actually be green) and will likely see some SANFL games played there. Hate the fact that they're basically giving the public one pool to shut them up and taking away an existing multi purpose centre. What could work is if the ACC know they need to spend roughly $21m to 'bring it up to scratch', why not invest that and a little bit more into the AFC proposal and build a bigger centre, add a dive pool and another lap pool. It'll no doubt take up more parkland but it's for public use so the APPA won't have much of a leg to stand on.

[Nort]

If they are going to be so dramatically reducing the types of facilities offered to the public then I think the council should take it to open tender. If the Crows have the best offer then so be it, but perhaps some other organisation or business could offer more public services.

[SRW]

I know someone working on this for the Crows. From what I understand, the council has been inconsistent about what it needs and wants. I also understand the Crows are happy to fund a more basic aquatic offering but believe council should pitch in if they want an equivalent level of amenity to the current centre (which is losing money). I expect there's much more back and forth to occur. Whatever direction, it needs to proceed from the understanding that the parklands are not simply free land.

It's hard to comment on the design without further details. In principle, I support the light-touch approach that sees the built form broken into three separate pavilions and net increase to open space. But how the buildings interact with the parklands and O'Connell Street (and what community facilities they offer) remains to be seen. Also, I would love for the open-air car lot to be reduced or submerged.