Bike-sharing operator oBike, which exited the Singapore market abruptly on Monday, June 25, will have until Wednesday, July 4, to remove all of its bicycles from public spaces.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it met up with oBike representatives on June 27, instructing the company to work with its liquidator to remove their fleet of bicycles so as not to clutter public streets with bicycles that cannot be hired.

The statement also said that after July 4, LTA will progressively remove any oBikes found on the streets.

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Consumer claims "will not be able to proceed"

Meanwhile, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) put up the following post, advising that upon commencement of oBike's liquidation, all claims by consumers will not be able to proceed due to a stay of proceedings on all litigation action.

Consumers are advised to file Proofs of Debt with the appointed liquidator, CASE said. Upon liquidation, oBike's assets will first be distributed to creditors (such as banks), and contributors (such shareholders who are partly or unpaid).

That said, chances are oBike has minimal assets remaining, as well as big creditors to pay, so don't get your hopes up too high of getting your S$49 deposit back.

This post from SingaporeLegalAdvice.com says more or less the same:

Forced out by licensing regulations

oBike has claimed that its exit from Singapore is due to the “difficulties foreseen to be experienced to fulfil the new requirements and guidelines released by Land Transport Authority (LTA)”.

The requirements refer to the upcoming licensing framework set by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to ensure proper management of bicycles. The licence lays out several conditions which potentially require a lot of financial resources from bike-sharing companies.

Already, the licence has killed two bike-sharing operators — oBike, and reportedly another company called GBike.

But right now, the remaining bike-sharing operators in Singapore have until July 7 to submit their applications for the licence. LTA will award the licences in September after evaluating the submissions.

Interestingly, the LTA statement also added that the new bike-sharing licence is not meant to target "non-parking issues such as service standards and user deposits" because over-regulation will lead to "high compliance costs" which could be passed on to users.

Instead LTA advises that riders choose from a variety of business models, including those that do not require deposits.

You have been warned.

More on oBike:

Bike-sharing operators being squeezed by new licence:

Top image by Joshua Lee