Taupō’s a-GLOW: Keeping Pace, e-Style
- Written by
- Deepika Sulekh
If you’ve been strolling the streets of Taupō recently, you’ll know there is a new visitor in town.
100 e-scooters have been popping up all over Taupō’s CBD following the trial launch across Labour weekend. Glide Scooters have received the thumbs up for an eight-month trial to bring GLOW (Great Lake on Wheels) to Taupō.
“The uptake has been much better than anticipated,” says Dave Wakelin, director of Glide Scooters. “People are enjoying the convenience – being able to skip the traffic – and the fact that they’re so eco-friendly and cost-effective too.”
The operation area covers most of the CBD, up to the end of Spa Road, Norman Smith, and along Lake Terrace down to Wharewaka Point. The centre of town has a ‘slow zone’ with a maximum speed limit of 12km/h; beyond the centre 20km/h is permitted. And, there’s no need to panic if you forget to pull back on the pace when you reach the central boundary line because the scooter will automatically begin to slow down and stop. There are also enforced parking spots all around town to ensure scooter riders don’t get in the way of pedestrians.
Meet the Bird
“Bird One is the safest scooter we can find, and the only one that allows slower speeds for our busy CBD,” says Dave. They are easy to master (it only takes about 5 minutes to learn all the ins and outs), they ride smoothly, and have a regenerative brake system – even working in engine failure. Bird One is also one of the eco-friendliest scooters, with zero carbon emissions, making it a very clean, efficient and agile way to get around town.
Glide have a dedicated team managing, charging and doing basic 4-point checks every evening. Every day they complete two scooter runs – one morning, one night – redistributing the spread of scooters across town. And repairs are no issue, the team ensure they stock adequate spare parts at all times to utilise as and when.
Ride it to believe it
Keen to give it a try? GLOW are available to hire from 7am to 9pm every day, and cost $1 per trip plus 35 cents per minute.
All you need to do is download the ‘Bird’ App, add your credit card details, and scan the code on the scooter you want to ride. It’s that simple.