7 ms·

OBike Refund in Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia

130 points by brisance 8y ago

robbiet480 8y ago
It appears [0] that the deposit is "up to" $49 Singaporean Dollars or about $35 US Dollars [0]: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-working-to-refund-deposits-collect-remaining-bicycles-10488270 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-working...
- marcv81 8y ago
  It was SGD19 for students or SGD49 for anyone else.
llampx 8y ago
As someone who is not familiar with oBike or the situation, could someone clue me in as to what happened? My guess is that the company signed up a bunch of people, took a sizeable deposit from all of them, and then cut and run? Where does the ICO (or ICOs) come into the picture?
- angerman 8y ago
  Bike sharing company in Singapore. Initially collected a S$49 to use its service. With the deposit paid you were entitled to rent their bikes at S$0.5/15min. Bike were almost everywhere. Initially they had lots of free ride promotions. A few days ago, they claimed that they ceased operations due to newly imposed government restrictions. (To prevent bikes from lying/standing around just about everywhere and have them be rented/returned at designated parking areas) A while ago I think they dropped the deposit requirement, as other competitors did not have the deposit requirement. You could ask for your deposit to be returned. This would take up to 30days, but apparently took much longer, according to some comments on Facebook. They also offered a VIP subscription for 3years or so for S$49, which would entitle you to a certain amount of free rides per month, I think. All in all, I don’t know how I feel about my deposit. I’m pretty sure it’s gone. On the other hand I’ve used the bikes a few times with all the “free”/promotional rides, without giving them any additional money. After all I got some value for the S$49. Did I ride for 25hs in total? I doubt it. I guess the ICO stuff is just trying to draw a parallel defrauding scheme?
  - Cthulhu_ 8y ago
    S$49 is I guess not that big a loss for a bicycle, buying one yourself is probably more expensive. What happens to the bikes then? I can imagine they're being stored left and right now.
    - mhueni 8y ago
      Here's an idea - "upcycling" https://mobile.twitter.com/tamberg/status/1013085708234485760 https://mobile.twitter.com/tamberg/status/101308570823448576...
    - Tepix 8y ago
      S$49 is around 30€. German c't magazine did a review of various rental bikes in Germany and found OBike to be the worst by far. They also got their hands on an offer for their bikes. Apparently these bikes cost 69€ (S$112) if you buy 1000 of them.
    - johannes1234321 8y ago
      I haven't tried oBike as I am already customer of two other bike rental schemes in my town (Munich) but from what I see when looking at those and from reports they are really bad in quality and comfort. As an example here a (German) video comparing oBike and a "normal" bike rolling down a small hill: https://youtu.be/9bTnwJc5gzc https://youtu.be/9bTnwJc5gzc There are probably better ways to spend those bucks.
  - jsemrau 8y ago
    One of the problem was that they automatically and without customer consent converted the deposits to VIP subscriptions. [Edit] Also this whole concept of dockless bikes is very unsightly. Singapore has changed the law to have the companies pay for the bike removal.
  - CaptainZapp 8y ago
    Bike sharing company in Singapore. Initially collected a S$49 to use its service. In Zurich they initially charged a deposit of CHF 150 (later halved). That comes to S$206 and is probably three times the amount of what those atrocities are worth.
- paradite 8y ago
  oBike stops operations in Singapore, cites difficulties meeting new LTA regulations: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-stops-operations-singapore-difficulties-lta-regulations-10466736 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-stops-o... They seem to be working on refund now: https://www.facebook.com/oBikeSG/photos/a.1940572166174921.1073741829.1886923821539756/2204552426443559/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/oBikeSG/photos/a.1940572166174921.1...
- guidedlight 8y ago
  They were notorious for dumping bikes all over Melbourne, Australia. A city that takes its liveability seriously. Eventually the government told oBike they would be given a $3,000 fine for every bike in violation, which is obviously far more than the small cost of the bike itself. They left soon afterwards. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle-scheme-to-leave-melbourne/9860314 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle...
  - konschubert 8y ago
    Looking at aerial photography of Melbourne, it there are an awful lot of cars for a city that takes its liveability seriously. I can't imagine that bikes were taking MORE space than the cars?
    - guidedlight 8y ago
      Melbourne has the world's largest tram network. It has a massive train 869km train network too, plus current construction of a new $10 billion tunnel in the city center. Cars are allowed in the city center, but they are mostly commercial vehicles (taxis, delivery drivers, construction, etc). Most people use public transport to commute to and from work. Many bike share schemes have been tried, but are not popular in Melbourne because trams are free and bicycles require helmets by law.
      - megablast 8y ago
        > Cars are allowed in the city center, but they are mostly commercial vehicles This is not true at all, a ridiculous number of people drive to work and park in the city. Over 60% of all traffic is private cars.
      - keir-rex 8y ago
        They also get dumped every where. The oBikes look awful too. Ofo bikes are of a reasonable quality but obikes on the other hand have never tempted me to use them.
      - 8y ago
icantdrive55 8y ago
"Only in August 2017 had oBike pulled off one of the largest series B rounds on record in Southeast Asia to raise US$45 million from a venture capital firm linked to a co-founder of Russia’s Mail.Ru Group a mysterious “leading global transportation platform” and several unnamed family offices in Southeast Asia. " 1. I bet they got payed off, or they got their money laundered in some other way? 2. So many Chinese companies seem to go out of their way to be fraudulent; I don't have much sympathy for investors anymore. 3. There used to be Investment Guys out there trying to expose shady Chinese companies, companies like NQ mobile, but I just don't hear much from them. I guess they figure if you invest with shady entities, don't expect your money back? 4. I love the back stories on these boy geniuses. Just lie until you thrive?
the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
I’m pretty sure it’s not legal to shut down one subsidary and not return the deposits if the rest of the company continues operating.
- tuukkah 8y ago
  In general, aren't the stock owners (the parent companies) non-liable for the operations of the limited-liability corporation (the subsidiary)?
  - the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
    Most countries have a form of "Piercing the corporate veil" so that companies cannot just make subsidaries default nilly willy without any repercussions. And that even assumes that obike Singapore declared bankruptcy. In central Europe for sure you cannot even use deposits to satisfy creditors unless the deposit was made after the moment of insolvency. I have never heard deposits not being paid back if a company ceases operation by leaving a market.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  Depends on what company did receive the money and is a party in your contract. It might not be the subsidiary.
robbiep 8y ago
It looks like there is only a couple million $$ of paid up share capital in the paper trail. How did they finance purchase of so many oBikes?
- madewulf 8y ago
  From what I saw while trying to ride these bikes, I would bet that each bike costs less than 80$ to manufacture. They are very low quality, with no gears. It might be even lower than that. My guess is that the electronic is the most expensive part.
  - lostlogin 8y ago
    Hop a curb (cleanly) and bits fall off too. I’m pretty sure that some of these services make good money from fines too, for things like innappropriate parking. It’s sometimes hard to park them within the correct zones as the GPS coordinates it says you left the bike at are not accurate, leading to penalties.
- stirlo 8y ago
  There’s a screenshot showing bikes selling for $199 RMB ($30USD) in China. With a $49SGD ($36USD) deposit they could afford to buy one for every user and still have cash left over.
  - robbiep 8y ago
    I’m aware that they’re low cost, they’re everywhere in sydney. I guess I just am trying to look at the unit economics and reverse engineer the business fundamentals. The bikes came before the users, and i guess even with a couple thousand (probably high end numbers now I think about it) bikes in sydney, Melbourne and then 10s is thousands (if that) in Singapore they could do it with a small capital base, especially with almost no support on the labour side. Then again they ended up having to spend a lot of money in Melbourne cleaning them up which would have buggered their modelling. Bottom line of my comment above: the bikes has to come first with a reasonable lead time before the deposit. I see now that they could have borrowed against it as well but it doesn’t look like they had large inflows of PE or VC money?
plasma 8y ago
In Australia, oBikes were often thrown in to trees and rivers. They've left Melbourne. [0] [0] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle-scheme-to-leave-melbourne/9860314 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle...
- chrisper 8y ago
  oBike was also troublesome here in Switzerland. People just left them left and right wherever they pleased.
  - Cthulhu_ 8y ago
    That's kind of the idea I guess, find a bike and you can ride it. But that's too socialist, no money to be made in that, and a lot of trashed bikes everywhere.
    - Arnt 8y ago
      I can tell you haven't tried, because otherwise you'd mention the €79 deposit and that they felt like riding a home trainer. I think it was a scam. The idea was to take people's deposits and then declare bankruptcy.
      - Tepix 8y ago
        €79 deposit for a €69 bike (according to c't magazine)
    - MichaelApproved 8y ago
      Socialism is defined as "a range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production as well as the political theories and movements associated with them." What does "ownership and democratic control of the means of production" have to do with littering bikes on the sidewalk?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
Sujan 8y ago
What's the connection between oBike and the ICOs (besides Yi Shi beeing involved in both)?
1ba9115454 8y ago
I've seen these bikes in some crazy places. There seems to be a minority of people who take joy in leaving them in not so easy to reach places. 2 examples I've seen. - In the middle of a forest with at least 2KM of trail before the bike could be reached. - Inside a secure defence facility.
- justinclift 8y ago
  > Inside a secure defence facility. In theory, identifying who left it there should be feasible. That may mean asking the defence facility people nicely (letters and bureaucracy, etc).
sschueller 8y ago
OBike is also pulling all 600 bikes out of Zürich, Switzerland but there was no reason given, just that OBike will pay for the removal. [1] [1] https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/veloverleih-in-zuerich-o-bike-zieht-sich-zurueck-publibike-waechst-ld.1396483 https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/veloverleih-in-zuerich-o-bike-zie...
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  Given their overall behavior I believe it when I see it that they'll pay for the removal. To me they seem like a totally dodgy company (which is consistent with the blog post).
eggie5 8y ago
obike shut down? I remember they were all over Amsterdam last year
wastedhours 8y ago
Until these companies work out how to manage the squishy bit that sits on them, the issues are only going to escalate - glorified litter the way some users leave them.
hsnewman 8y ago
I just got back from Portland Oregon and used biketownpdx.com several times, it was fine. The only issue was that the bikes were heavy. $20/mo for daily usage was great.
csomar 8y ago
In kuala lumpur I was able to ride one of these. The experience to open one of them was easy. No card required. The bike app still showed 0min after 2 hours of biking. No deposit required. The problem come when I wanted to lock the bike and finish the trip. It wouldn’t allow me to lock the bike. The app didn’t recognize the parking location and alerted to bring the bike to a one. I ended up putting it somewhere on the streets unlocked. Anyone could have made use of it.
dalbasal 8y ago
I think it's becoming clear that (a) bike sharing is good to have in a city. People want it. (b) neither an all public or an all private system can work as well as we'd like it to. The "all public" system means a municipality contracts a single vendor (or owns it) to build all the stations and manage everything. This is what we have where I live, dublin. It's a stagnant system. They don't add stations. Problems with stations being full/empty at certain times of the day persist indefinitely. Basically, you can feel the lack of competition. The all private system (like they have in China) is more innovative. They use technology better. You can feel the existence of competition. It's more scalable with bikes, rides and users increasing all the time. But... It makes a mess. Bikes everywhere. Companies can go bust, can chase market cap & investment. Mostly, bikes end up abandoned all over the place. This is fixable, for a local municipality that's willing to get clever and design a market. Create infrastructure, mostly it's the stations or the ability to rent space for them. Make rules, but not too many. Let competition happen within parameters.
- Reason077 8y ago
  In London, we have both systems. Santander Cycles, aka "Boris Bikes" which is operated by the city, as well as ofo, mobike, and (until recently?) obike. The later operate with the blessing of local councils, and are required to designate certain areas as "no parking" etc. Advantage of Boris Bikes: bigger, better quality bikes which tend to be better maintained. Usually no trouble finding docking stations with available bikes within the service area. Disadvantages: Limited service area. High cost of building docking stations means that expansion is slow. Advantages of ofo/mobike: Typically (but not always) cheaper. Can park bikes (more or less) anywhere you like. Much bigger service area. Disadvantages: Relatively crappy bikes, not fun to ride over longer distances. Not always easy to find a bike, and you might have to flip between apps to find one.
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  OBike dumped some 800 bikes in Zurich without asking, or telling creating a huge mess. The problem with those bikes, apart from the fact that they look atrociously is that the quality is so bad to make them borderline unusable. I have hardly seen them in use, but there are a lot of those bikes lying around broken. There is no customer service, whatsoever and no point of contact. Aparently the manager they put in place for Switzerland left some month ago. Add to all this that according to C'T they are a massive privacy violator with all the data they suck about their renters. Lime Bike seems to fare a bit better, alas the bikes are of better quality. According to press reports they should be collected and removed. Reading about the shenanigans of that company probably at the tax payers dime. With that method, dump a shitton of crap bikes on a city and let them fend for themselves, OBike created a hellishly hostile territory for the dockless bike sharing concept.
cproctor 8y ago
Maybe it's time for a raw materials recycling startup. Cruise around the city with a van, pick up bikes, and sell them for scrap.
- ensignavenger 8y ago
  This is how cities handle abandoned vehicles (sort of). While bikes don't have us much recyclable material in them, they don't cost as much to pick up.
Sujan 8y ago
For some context, here is a reply of the accused / singled out person on their Twitter account: > Some fake news circulating around lately, to clarify: 1. I'm a shareholder of oBike, owning 23.58% stake, my title has always been Founding Investor&Chairman in that company 2. Avazu was founded by me sorely, my grandparents are 80+ and can't even handle computers > 3. oBike Singapore has been shut down due to economics, the decision was made among all shareholders, no need to generalize/personalize 4. oBike has no intention or need to run away with deposit, instead the company is proactively looking for a solution with the related parties > 5. I'm an investor and shareholder in 100+ startups and companies globally, I'm also the direct founder of DotC United Group, some of these ventures cooperate with other block chain companies, that doesn't mean all these companies belong to me. https://twitter.com/yishi888/status/1013667238191067136 https://twitter.com/yishi888/status/1013667238191067136
- dragonsh 8y ago
  We will know when the deposits are returned back. Let's see if the company run away again legally with people's deposit. Given people waiting for deposit return, it's a clear sign of fraud. Removing the deposit option from mobile app is a direct indication of that intention. Crypto currency is not protected investment, but the financial deposit taken in fiat currency should be, not sure if Singapore govt will protect the poor depositors who may loose their money and this guy will still continue to keep raking in money with Ponzi crypto schemes.

130 points by brisance 8y ago

It appears [0] that the deposit is "up to" $49 Singaporean Dollars or about $35 US Dollars [0]: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-working-to-refund-deposits-collect-remaining-bicycles-10488270 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-working...

marcv81 8y ago
It was SGD19 for students or SGD49 for anyone else.

llampx 8y ago

As someone who is not familiar with oBike or the situation, could someone clue me in as to what happened? My guess is that the company signed up a bunch of people, took a sizeable deposit from all of them, and then cut and run? Where does the ICO (or ICOs) come into the picture?

angerman 8y ago
Bike sharing company in Singapore. Initially collected a S$49 to use its service. With the deposit paid you were entitled to rent their bikes at S$0.5/15min. Bike were almost everywhere. Initially they had lots of free ride promotions. A few days ago, they claimed that they ceased operations due to newly imposed government restrictions. (To prevent bikes from lying/standing around just about everywhere and have them be rented/returned at designated parking areas) A while ago I think they dropped the deposit requirement, as other competitors did not have the deposit requirement. You could ask for your deposit to be returned. This would take up to 30days, but apparently took much longer, according to some comments on Facebook. They also offered a VIP subscription for 3years or so for S$49, which would entitle you to a certain amount of free rides per month, I think. All in all, I don’t know how I feel about my deposit. I’m pretty sure it’s gone. On the other hand I’ve used the bikes a few times with all the “free”/promotional rides, without giving them any additional money. After all I got some value for the S$49. Did I ride for 25hs in total? I doubt it. I guess the ICO stuff is just trying to draw a parallel defrauding scheme?
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  S$49 is I guess not that big a loss for a bicycle, buying one yourself is probably more expensive. What happens to the bikes then? I can imagine they're being stored left and right now.
  - mhueni 8y ago
    Here's an idea - "upcycling" https://mobile.twitter.com/tamberg/status/1013085708234485760 https://mobile.twitter.com/tamberg/status/101308570823448576...
  - Tepix 8y ago
    S$49 is around 30€. German c't magazine did a review of various rental bikes in Germany and found OBike to be the worst by far. They also got their hands on an offer for their bikes. Apparently these bikes cost 69€ (S$112) if you buy 1000 of them.
  - johannes1234321 8y ago
    I haven't tried oBike as I am already customer of two other bike rental schemes in my town (Munich) but from what I see when looking at those and from reports they are really bad in quality and comfort. As an example here a (German) video comparing oBike and a "normal" bike rolling down a small hill: https://youtu.be/9bTnwJc5gzc https://youtu.be/9bTnwJc5gzc There are probably better ways to spend those bucks.
- jsemrau 8y ago
  One of the problem was that they automatically and without customer consent converted the deposits to VIP subscriptions. [Edit] Also this whole concept of dockless bikes is very unsightly. Singapore has changed the law to have the companies pay for the bike removal.
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  Bike sharing company in Singapore. Initially collected a S$49 to use its service. In Zurich they initially charged a deposit of CHF 150 (later halved). That comes to S$206 and is probably three times the amount of what those atrocities are worth.
paradite 8y ago
oBike stops operations in Singapore, cites difficulties meeting new LTA regulations: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-stops-operations-singapore-difficulties-lta-regulations-10466736 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/obike-stops-o... They seem to be working on refund now: https://www.facebook.com/oBikeSG/photos/a.1940572166174921.1073741829.1886923821539756/2204552426443559/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/oBikeSG/photos/a.1940572166174921.1...
guidedlight 8y ago
They were notorious for dumping bikes all over Melbourne, Australia. A city that takes its liveability seriously. Eventually the government told oBike they would be given a $3,000 fine for every bike in violation, which is obviously far more than the small cost of the bike itself. They left soon afterwards. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle-scheme-to-leave-melbourne/9860314 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle...
- konschubert 8y ago
  Looking at aerial photography of Melbourne, it there are an awful lot of cars for a city that takes its liveability seriously. I can't imagine that bikes were taking MORE space than the cars?
  - guidedlight 8y ago
    Melbourne has the world's largest tram network. It has a massive train 869km train network too, plus current construction of a new $10 billion tunnel in the city center. Cars are allowed in the city center, but they are mostly commercial vehicles (taxis, delivery drivers, construction, etc). Most people use public transport to commute to and from work. Many bike share schemes have been tried, but are not popular in Melbourne because trams are free and bicycles require helmets by law.
    - megablast 8y ago
      > Cars are allowed in the city center, but they are mostly commercial vehicles This is not true at all, a ridiculous number of people drive to work and park in the city. Over 60% of all traffic is private cars.
    - keir-rex 8y ago
      They also get dumped every where. The oBikes look awful too. Ofo bikes are of a reasonable quality but obikes on the other hand have never tempted me to use them.
    - 8y ago

icantdrive55 8y ago

"Only in August 2017 had oBike pulled off one of the largest series B rounds on record in Southeast Asia to raise US$45 million from a venture capital firm linked to a co-founder of Russia’s Mail.Ru Group a mysterious “leading global transportation platform” and several unnamed family offices in Southeast Asia. " 1. I bet they got payed off, or they got their money laundered in some other way? 2. So many Chinese companies seem to go out of their way to be fraudulent; I don't have much sympathy for investors anymore. 3. There used to be Investment Guys out there trying to expose shady Chinese companies, companies like NQ mobile, but I just don't hear much from them. I guess they figure if you invest with shady entities, don't expect your money back? 4. I love the back stories on these boy geniuses. Just lie until you thrive?

the_mitsuhiko 8y ago

I’m pretty sure it’s not legal to shut down one subsidary and not return the deposits if the rest of the company continues operating.

tuukkah 8y ago
In general, aren't the stock owners (the parent companies) non-liable for the operations of the limited-liability corporation (the subsidiary)?
- the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
  Most countries have a form of "Piercing the corporate veil" so that companies cannot just make subsidaries default nilly willy without any repercussions. And that even assumes that obike Singapore declared bankruptcy. In central Europe for sure you cannot even use deposits to satisfy creditors unless the deposit was made after the moment of insolvency. I have never heard deposits not being paid back if a company ceases operation by leaving a market.
TomMarius 8y ago
Depends on what company did receive the money and is a party in your contract. It might not be the subsidiary.

robbiep 8y ago

It looks like there is only a couple million $$ of paid up share capital in the paper trail. How did they finance purchase of so many oBikes?

madewulf 8y ago
From what I saw while trying to ride these bikes, I would bet that each bike costs less than 80$ to manufacture. They are very low quality, with no gears. It might be even lower than that. My guess is that the electronic is the most expensive part.
- lostlogin 8y ago
  Hop a curb (cleanly) and bits fall off too. I’m pretty sure that some of these services make good money from fines too, for things like innappropriate parking. It’s sometimes hard to park them within the correct zones as the GPS coordinates it says you left the bike at are not accurate, leading to penalties.
stirlo 8y ago
There’s a screenshot showing bikes selling for $199 RMB ($30USD) in China. With a $49SGD ($36USD) deposit they could afford to buy one for every user and still have cash left over.
- robbiep 8y ago
  I’m aware that they’re low cost, they’re everywhere in sydney. I guess I just am trying to look at the unit economics and reverse engineer the business fundamentals. The bikes came before the users, and i guess even with a couple thousand (probably high end numbers now I think about it) bikes in sydney, Melbourne and then 10s is thousands (if that) in Singapore they could do it with a small capital base, especially with almost no support on the labour side. Then again they ended up having to spend a lot of money in Melbourne cleaning them up which would have buggered their modelling. Bottom line of my comment above: the bikes has to come first with a reasonable lead time before the deposit. I see now that they could have borrowed against it as well but it doesn’t look like they had large inflows of PE or VC money?

plasma 8y ago

In Australia, oBikes were often thrown in to trees and rivers. They've left Melbourne. [0] [0] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle-scheme-to-leave-melbourne/9860314 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/obike-dockless-bicycle...

chrisper 8y ago
oBike was also troublesome here in Switzerland. People just left them left and right wherever they pleased.
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  That's kind of the idea I guess, find a bike and you can ride it. But that's too socialist, no money to be made in that, and a lot of trashed bikes everywhere.
  - Arnt 8y ago
    I can tell you haven't tried, because otherwise you'd mention the €79 deposit and that they felt like riding a home trainer. I think it was a scam. The idea was to take people's deposits and then declare bankruptcy.
    - Tepix 8y ago
      €79 deposit for a €69 bike (according to c't magazine)
  - MichaelApproved 8y ago
    Socialism is defined as "a range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production as well as the political theories and movements associated with them." What does "ownership and democratic control of the means of production" have to do with littering bikes on the sidewalk?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

Sujan 8y ago

What's the connection between oBike and the ICOs (besides Yi Shi beeing involved in both)?

1ba9115454 8y ago

I've seen these bikes in some crazy places. There seems to be a minority of people who take joy in leaving them in not so easy to reach places. 2 examples I've seen. - In the middle of a forest with at least 2KM of trail before the bike could be reached. - Inside a secure defence facility.

justinclift 8y ago
> Inside a secure defence facility. In theory, identifying who left it there should be feasible. That may mean asking the defence facility people nicely (letters and bureaucracy, etc).

sschueller 8y ago

OBike is also pulling all 600 bikes out of Zürich, Switzerland but there was no reason given, just that OBike will pay for the removal. [1] [1] https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/veloverleih-in-zuerich-o-bike-zieht-sich-zurueck-publibike-waechst-ld.1396483 https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/veloverleih-in-zuerich-o-bike-zie...

CaptainZapp 8y ago
Given their overall behavior I believe it when I see it that they'll pay for the removal. To me they seem like a totally dodgy company (which is consistent with the blog post).

eggie5 8y ago

obike shut down? I remember they were all over Amsterdam last year

wastedhours 8y ago

Until these companies work out how to manage the squishy bit that sits on them, the issues are only going to escalate - glorified litter the way some users leave them.

hsnewman 8y ago

I just got back from Portland Oregon and used biketownpdx.com several times, it was fine. The only issue was that the bikes were heavy. $20/mo for daily usage was great.

csomar 8y ago

In kuala lumpur I was able to ride one of these. The experience to open one of them was easy. No card required. The bike app still showed 0min after 2 hours of biking. No deposit required. The problem come when I wanted to lock the bike and finish the trip. It wouldn’t allow me to lock the bike. The app didn’t recognize the parking location and alerted to bring the bike to a one. I ended up putting it somewhere on the streets unlocked. Anyone could have made use of it.

dalbasal 8y ago

I think it's becoming clear that (a) bike sharing is good to have in a city. People want it. (b) neither an all public or an all private system can work as well as we'd like it to. The "all public" system means a municipality contracts a single vendor (or owns it) to build all the stations and manage everything. This is what we have where I live, dublin. It's a stagnant system. They don't add stations. Problems with stations being full/empty at certain times of the day persist indefinitely. Basically, you can feel the lack of competition. The all private system (like they have in China) is more innovative. They use technology better. You can feel the existence of competition. It's more scalable with bikes, rides and users increasing all the time. But... It makes a mess. Bikes everywhere. Companies can go bust, can chase market cap & investment. Mostly, bikes end up abandoned all over the place. This is fixable, for a local municipality that's willing to get clever and design a market. Create infrastructure, mostly it's the stations or the ability to rent space for them. Make rules, but not too many. Let competition happen within parameters.

Reason077 8y ago
In London, we have both systems. Santander Cycles, aka "Boris Bikes" which is operated by the city, as well as ofo, mobike, and (until recently?) obike. The later operate with the blessing of local councils, and are required to designate certain areas as "no parking" etc. Advantage of Boris Bikes: bigger, better quality bikes which tend to be better maintained. Usually no trouble finding docking stations with available bikes within the service area. Disadvantages: Limited service area. High cost of building docking stations means that expansion is slow. Advantages of ofo/mobike: Typically (but not always) cheaper. Can park bikes (more or less) anywhere you like. Much bigger service area. Disadvantages: Relatively crappy bikes, not fun to ride over longer distances. Not always easy to find a bike, and you might have to flip between apps to find one.
CaptainZapp 8y ago
OBike dumped some 800 bikes in Zurich without asking, or telling creating a huge mess. The problem with those bikes, apart from the fact that they look atrociously is that the quality is so bad to make them borderline unusable. I have hardly seen them in use, but there are a lot of those bikes lying around broken. There is no customer service, whatsoever and no point of contact. Aparently the manager they put in place for Switzerland left some month ago. Add to all this that according to C'T they are a massive privacy violator with all the data they suck about their renters. Lime Bike seems to fare a bit better, alas the bikes are of better quality. According to press reports they should be collected and removed. Reading about the shenanigans of that company probably at the tax payers dime. With that method, dump a shitton of crap bikes on a city and let them fend for themselves, OBike created a hellishly hostile territory for the dockless bike sharing concept.

cproctor 8y ago

Maybe it's time for a raw materials recycling startup. Cruise around the city with a van, pick up bikes, and sell them for scrap.

ensignavenger 8y ago
This is how cities handle abandoned vehicles (sort of). While bikes don't have us much recyclable material in them, they don't cost as much to pick up.

Sujan 8y ago

For some context, here is a reply of the accused / singled out person on their Twitter account: > Some fake news circulating around lately, to clarify: 1. I'm a shareholder of oBike, owning 23.58% stake, my title has always been Founding Investor&Chairman in that company 2. Avazu was founded by me sorely, my grandparents are 80+ and can't even handle computers > 3. oBike Singapore has been shut down due to economics, the decision was made among all shareholders, no need to generalize/personalize 4. oBike has no intention or need to run away with deposit, instead the company is proactively looking for a solution with the related parties > 5. I'm an investor and shareholder in 100+ startups and companies globally, I'm also the direct founder of DotC United Group, some of these ventures cooperate with other block chain companies, that doesn't mean all these companies belong to me. https://twitter.com/yishi888/status/1013667238191067136 https://twitter.com/yishi888/status/1013667238191067136

dragonsh 8y ago
We will know when the deposits are returned back. Let's see if the company run away again legally with people's deposit. Given people waiting for deposit return, it's a clear sign of fraud. Removing the deposit option from mobile app is a direct indication of that intention. Crypto currency is not protected investment, but the financial deposit taken in fiat currency should be, not sure if Singapore govt will protect the poor depositors who may loose their money and this guy will still continue to keep raking in money with Ponzi crypto schemes.