THERE'S a stick in the spokes of Lake Macquarie's purple e-bikes and e-scooters as Beam Mobility announces it will cease operations this week.
Lake Macquarie was the first council in the state to put the wheels in motion on shared e-scooters in December 2022.
Beam said the decision came down to current operation conditions, in particular the limited operating area for shared e-scooters in Lake Macquarie "which has limited rider usage".
A Beam spokesperson thanked the council and Dantia, the council's independent economic development company, for their support of shared micro-mobility.
"We're proud to have brought zero-emissions transportation to Lake Macquarie, with 30,000 kilometres travelled and just under 40,000 trips taken on Beam's shared e-scooters and e-bikes," the spokesperson said.
"We believe that there is a need for shared micro-mobility as a transportation option for short trips in every city, and will continue to assess the viability of shared micro-mobility operations in Lake Macquarie."
Operations will come to a grinding halt from May 24, almost two years since they started in mid-2022.
The original 12-month trial was the result of negotiations between Dantia and Beam, the largest shared e-mobility operator in the Asia-Pacific.
Dantia chief executive Tim Browne said they did not request the removal of e-bikes and e-scooters but would be open to trials in the future.
The purple two-wheelers have been a source of controversy in the past, seen toppled over and strewn across the city.
In December 2022, Lake Macquarie councillors put Beam "on notice" and slammed the trial as an "absolute joke".
At the time, councillors claimed they had copped significant criticism from the community about the e-bikes and e-scooters not being returned to the correct locations.
A Lake Macquarie council spokesman said that in the last 12 months it has received minimal complaints about Beam's operations and that Beam's decision to withdraw was independent of that.
"Council will continue to work with Dantia, Transport for NSW and other stakeholders to provide innovative and convenient transport solutions for our community," he said.
