Australia’s attempt at adopting the Chinese model for a public bike-sharing scheme is failing spectacularly with people dumping the bicycles in trees, lakes and garbage trucks.
oBike began operating in Australia in January with the idea of improving on the popular ‘Boris Bikes’ in London with a system free of docks and using an app to track distance and cost.
Australians instead have taken advantage of and abusing the freedom, with damaged and knocked over bicycles sprawled across major cities.
Australia’s attempt at adopting the Chinese model for a public bike-sharing scheme is failing spectacularly with people dumping the bicycles in trees, lakes and garbage trucks
oBike began operating in Australia in January with the idea of improving on the popular ‘Boris Bikes’ in London with a system free of docks and using an app to track distance and cost
Australians instead have taken advantage of and abusing the freedom, with damaged and knocked over bicycles sprawled across major cities
An oBike membership costs $69, which acts as a deposit and is completely refundable, plus $1.99 per 30 minutes of riding.
The bikes are tracked by GPS, which can be accessed through the company app, allowing customers to better track their usage.
Despite the popularity of the dockless system in Asian countries, including the implementation of over 100,000 bicycles in Chinese cities, the scheme has not proven successful in Australia.
Images of bikes knocked down on the road, tangled up with others, hung in trees and dumped in lakes have been shared on social media, with Melbourne the main offenders.
Despite the popularity of the dockless system in Asian countries, the scheme has not proven successful in Australia
Residents have labelled the yellow bikes as ‘visual pollution’, and with oBikes found on the roofs of bus stops and sitting on park benches, its hard to argue
Residents have labelled the yellow bikes as ‘visual pollution’, and with oBikes found on the roofs of bus stops and sitting on park benches, its hard to argue.
The rules of using the bicycles state they can be left anywhere as long as they are not endangering the safety of the public, but the inability to police this has proven a concern.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted oBike for comment on the dumping of its bicycles.
Images of bikes knocked down on the road, tangled up with others, hung in trees and dumped in lakes have been shared on social media, with Melbourne the main offenders