Amidst the #ReturnMyDeposit disaster that oBike has left in its wake, the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council (BTPTC) has slapped the bike-sharing company with a S$86,000 fine.

The fines were issued to oBike for obstruction caused by bicycles at common areas and failure to remove illegally parked bicycles.

According to the town council, some of the fines date back to November 2017, after a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and various bike-sharing operators in Singapore.

The fines are pasted on the windows of oBike's abandoned office.

The MOU required operators to use geo-fencing technology to ensure bicycles are properly parked, and to remove illegally parked bicycles within a day, among other measures.

oBike has 14 days to settle each fine by BTPTC, following which, the town council will commence legal proceedings to recover the money and expenses incurred.

In the event that oBike cannot pay back the amount, BTPTC has helpfully offered an installment plan: Pay 50 percent of the fine now, and 50 percent later.

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July 4 deadline set by LTA

LTA has given oBike and its liquidator until July 4 to take its bicycles off the streets, failing which, the liquidator will have to pay for towing and storage fees incurred when the authority does the dirty work.

Seeing as how oBike has creditors and investors to pay back, and news that oBike's founder Shi Yi has not responded to the saga, it's unclear if oBike will have money to pay the fines to the town council eventually.

Top image by Joshua Lee