Cycling options for Aucklanders are set to increase in the new year, with a new rental e-bike operator setting up shop in the city.
Auckland Council and Auckland Transport (AT) will be issuing a six-month licence to Jump, who have applied for and been approved to operate a dockless rental e-bike scheme under the Trading and Events in Public Places Bylaw.
The company expects its fleet to be up and running in the new year, when their licence will be formally issued.
“Like all modes of micro-mobility, e-bikes will be a factor in Auckland’s transport equation and contribute to a number of the council’s strategic objectives,” says Auckland Council Regulatory Services Director Craig Hobbs.
“E-bikes and other bike share services provide options for people to move from place to place without using a car – and alongside other modes like e-scooters, they have the potential to compliment the first and last legs of a public transport journey.”
Jump is the first e-bike operator in Auckland to offer a rental scheme. OnzO, who has been licensed since 2017, offers a service with standard pedal-powered cycles.
“When OnzO first approached the council and AT, we decided to run a rental bike share trial,” says Mr Hobbs.
“Since then we have continued to review, improve and update a Code of Practice specifically for bike and e-bikes. Our learnings over the past two years, along with those from the e-scooter trials, have been incorporated into the current, standard licencing framework for rental bikes.
Operator details:
Jump, who is owned by Uber, has been allocated a total of 655 e-bikes to operate across the three city tiers (inner city, city fringe and outer city). They will have 130 e-bikes in tier 1, 400 in tier 2 and 125 in tier 3.
The council charges e-bikes using a similar pricing framework to rental e-scooters, with the difference being that e-bikes are charged on a rate of one bike per square metre as opposed to two for e-scooters.
| Tier | Fee per bike | Jump e-bike allocation | Total |
| 1 | $73 | 130 | $9,490 |
| 2 | $44 | 400 | $17,600 |
| 3 | $11 | 125 | $1,375 |
Following the earlier e-bike trials with OnzO, the council has now implemented an hourly charge for any costs associated with monitoring and compliance activities. We also require a deposit to review an e-bike application, based on 25 hours of work, as well as standard street trading licencing fees.
As well as e-bikes, Jump applied for and was granted a six-month e-scooter licence, which started on December 3. Currently, there are no other e-bike companies with applications for licences in Auckland.
Dockless rental e-bike overview:
- Dockless rental e-bikes are licensed under the Trading and Events in Public Places Bylaw
- As part of their licence conditions, operators must agree to the Bike Code of Practice (for e-bikes and bikes), which was refined during OnzO’s bike trials and also takes into account learnings from our recent e-scooter trials
- The e-bike trading hours are between 5am and 1am
- E-bikes operators are subject to the same data-sharing requirements as e-scooters
- There is an 18+ age restriction for rental e-bike licences.
For more background on e-bike licences, see the Rental Bike Code of Practice and read about the previous e-bike trials.
