Adam Muirson: Ario general manger on the new e-scooters launching in Auckland

A new type of e-scooter has hit Auckland's streets, with remote-control capabilities.

Ario's three-wheeled variety can be moved off the street, after being left by users.

General Manager, Adam Muirson says the three-wheelers are designed to help people who struggle with balance.

"Pedestrian and disability advocacy groups were really impressed with how these adjustments are going to improve safety and access for everyone."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather Duplessy Ellen nineteen past five, A new kind of scooter,
E scooter has hit the streets of Auckland today. This
one is a three wheeler as opposed to the two
wheelers we've got used to it and it can be remotely controlled,
which means that you can get it out of the way,
out of the middle of the footpath where someone's abandoned it.
The scooters are run by a company called Ario, and
Adam Yersen is Ario's general manager.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey, Adam got to Heather, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
You're welcome, thanks for coming in. Now. Your scooters have
three wheels, kind of like a big version of the
kid's safety scooters. Is that there to deal with drunk idiots?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
No, it's not there to deal with drunk idiots, but yes,
it is there to help people who have any challenges
with balance or with standing up period.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Idiots, though, isn't it make a less luckily?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I can tell you I haven't had that as feedback,
But what I have had is a lot of feedback
from pedestrian and disability advocacy groups that are really impressed
with how these adjustments are going to improve safety and
access for everyone.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, I'm in the safety and access. Safety obviously is
when you're on the thing and you gave me a
ride earlier, and it is so much more stable than
general limescooter or something like that. But the access thing
is about people just you know, parking them on the
footpath blocking the footpath. You can't get your pram passed.
You can actually log in remotely, can't you and move
it away?

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah? Absolutely, And I think there's two layers to that
versus the traditional model. One is knowing that they're poorly
parked at the moment. Traditional scooter companies are hoping that
the rider will take a photo and if they take
a photo, that it's actually a usable image and not
just something that's blurry or zoomed in of their health
is shoes. And then if if you have the image, okay,

(01:40):
what are you doing with it? And then lastly, are
you able to address it? And if so, how long
does it take you? With us, we don't ask the
rider to do that. The scooter will take three sixty
degree image and depth information. If it's not compliant or
considerate parking, then we'll get notified in our warehouse. We
can move it a couple of meters, so it's out

(02:02):
of the way, so we know more often and we're
able to deal with it really quickly. We're not dealing
with competing priorities and sending someone across the city in
two or three days. We're dealing with it in minutes.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, brilliant. So you guys are only in Newland at
the moment. That's the permission you've been given in West
Auckland and then surrounding areas.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah. So we're really excited that Auckland Council's if.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
It's a hat, you'll be able to go everywhere, won't you. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
So they've given us a license for what they call
Tier three of the outer city suburbs. We've started with
new Land specifically to support the transport hub there and
we're going to be expanding over the next couple of
weeks with the view in the midterm to look after
the whole city from November. So we're busily applying for
a license to manage the full city in Auckland and

(02:47):
christ Church right now.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, good stuff, best of luck with it. It's a
really great idea. That's Adamuerson, general manager of Ario New Zealand.
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