澳大利亚墨尔本Yarra市议会于7月14日投票否决美国电单车运营商Lime的永久合同申请，结束了长达近六年的试运营期[1]。市议会在整个试运营期间未获得任何收益[1]。
市议会在否决理由中指出，Lime未能有效清理堆放车辆和惩罚不文明使用者[1]。据提出的条件显示，市议会要求运营商24小时内接听所有公众来电，首次未接听罚款5000澳元，之后每次罚款10000澳元[1]。此外，运营商需在30分钟内处理投诉车辆、1小时内处理故障车，每月连续违规将导致车队规模削减20%[1]。电单车队规模上限定为250辆，且运营商必须承担所有成本[1]。
Lime亚太负责人Will Peters对市议会的指控提出质疑，称这些指控是"绝对不真实的"，并质疑市议会有权随意禁止电单车运营[1]。Peters指出市议会设置的条件导致本次招标中仅有Lime一家运营商提交申请[1]。
Yarra City Council in Melbourne, Australia, voted on July 14 to reject a permanent operating contract with US-based e-bike operator Lime, ending nearly six years of trial operations in the municipality [1]. The council's decision came after repeatedly criticizing the company for failing to remove abandoned vehicles and address improper use of the shared bikes [1].
The dispute centers on sharply divergent expectations between the council and Lime regarding operational standards. The council's proposed contract included demanding requirements: operators must answer all public calls within 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with penalties of AUD 5,000 for the first missed call and AUD 10,000 for subsequent failures [1]. Additionally, the operator would need to respond to complaints within 30 minutes and address faulty bikes within one hour, facing a 20 percent fleet reduction for each month of continuous breaches [1]. The council also capped the e-bike fleet at 250 vehicles and required operators to cover all costs [1].
Lime's Asia-Pacific regional head, Will Peters, characterized the council's allegations as "absolutely untrue" and questioned the municipality's authority to effectively ban e-bike services through such stringent conditions [1]. The company contended it was being "set up to fail," citing the impossibility of meeting the 10-second call response requirement and other demanding timelines [1]. Only Lime submitted a bid for the tender, indicating that other potential operators declined to participate given the contract terms [1]. Throughout the nearly six-year trial period, the council received no revenue from the arrangement [1].