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Now That oBike Is Gone, What Are My Rental Options Now?


As oBike pulls out from the bike sharing industry in Singapore, due to the new regulations that has been implemented by the Land Transport Authority, commuters are short of one less choice when it comes to their bike rental options. Launched in the early 2017, oBike was one of the first few “pioneer” bike sharing company to have introduce and made their bikes available to the people living in Singapore. At its peak, oBike managed to amassed more than a million users in Singapore to rent their bikes during their course of operations.


Hype & Stuff

Decked in a orangy-yellow tone, users often have oBikes mixed up with Ofo bikes as their colour tone are quite close to each other. For those who have the keen eye and the attention for detail would be able to tell apart the difference between these two different rental bikes as oBike has a third silver colour painted over the body of its bicycle.

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Dockless Bicycle Sharing

With the inception of the dockless bicycle sharing, the notion of bike sharing has tremendously improve the lives of commuters and Singaporeans who relies on them ever since. In countries such as London and Taipei, consumers can only rent a bike if they are able to locate places that these bikes are docked at, and after usage, they would need to return it via an empty dock. The convenience of it all just does not add up at all. But in places like China, and Singapore, this is however not the case. There is no need to find a docking area with an empty slot to dock the rented bike after usage, one just simply have to enable their bluetooth function in order to scan a unique QR code provided to unlock a rental bicycle. After utilizing, all you have to do is just slide the lock back up and end the session from the app itself.

Being able to just end the rental bike usage as and when you want, at almost anywhere has significantly increased the convenience level for consumers so much more. But with a few different bike sharing companies to choose from, will you be the one to just rent any bikes that are available or would you go for specific brands?

 

What other Bike Rental Options do i have?

At the moment, these are the following dockless bicycle sharing companies that are still fully operating and have their rental bikes islandwide.

 

MoBike


Mobike was one of the first dockless bike sharing company to make its way into Singapore. Since its inception in March 2017, there was a mandatory deposit of S$49 that was required from users to be paid upfront before allowing the rental services of Mobikes. But as of 29th June 2018, with the help of a data-driven analysis on rider behavior conducted by them, Mobike users need not place any monetary deposits with the company in order to rent their bikes.

Mobike charges: S$0.50/30mins


MoBike

Mobikes are easily recognised with their unique tone of orange and silver accents which are also their corporate colours. Mobikes are made user-friendly to most users especially kids or people with a shorter height. They can be found at bus stops, MRT stations, parks, and shopping centres.

 

OFO


Ofo on the other hand, has taken a large gamble in its initial phase of market penetration when it was made completely FREE to users for a period of time. This was their way of amassing their user base and it has only been made chargeable recently with a small fee of S$0.50 as well to the public. Ofo does not have any deposits to be made upfront at all, but due to the fact that it has been made free in the past, most of the cases where it involves damaging of these bikes are often Ofo bikes. Ofo mentioned that they are apparently still in the “bike sharing game” even though they have already pulled out from countries such as Australia and Israel shortly, they will still continue to serve and provide their rental bikes to Singaporeans. They have also applied a full license with LTA alongside with Mobike and SG Bike.

Ofo bike charges: S$0.50/30mins


Hype & Stuff

Ofo bikes have made their presence almost everywhere islandwide. Majority of the bike is being splashed yellow with black accents, which are also their corporate colours, coincidentally. Ofo bikes are built in a way where they are more comfortable for tall users because of their large bicycle frame.

 

SG Bike


The Edge Singapore

A homegrowned established bike sharing company for those who are supportive of local companies and startups. SG Bike made its way into the bike sharing industry somewhat later than the other competitors; August 2017. With no deposits required, it enables the users to make their payment with their local go-to card which is essential for most who takes their public transports; the EZ link card. SG Bike’s rental bicycle is easily recognisable due to the fact that their bike colours are red and white, which we can assume, Singapore’s national colours.

SG Bike charges: S$1/30mins

Here’s the catch, even though SG Bike is double the price when it comes to rental charges, SG Bike compensates by implementing a S$0.03 for every subsequent minute of usage after the first 30 minutes. With the convenience of paying through one’s EZ link card, it is definitely a rental bike you should consider.

 

GrabCycle


GrabCycle

Grab has decided to also step in the bike sharing space along with the current competition as it aims to bring the current dockless bike sharing partners together, all in a unified platform where users are able to locate a bike near them. They are also in the midst of working on their very own fleet of Grab rental bicycles (TBC), GrabCycle itself is still under production as we speak. If Grab were to launch their fleet of rental bikes, you would most probably be able to access them and make payments through the existing Grab app most of us already have installed in our phones.

The above are the current available dockless rental bicycle options you can go to if you are in need of an inexpensive mode of transportation in Singapore.

With oBike, ShareBikeSG, and GBikes withdrawing from the dockless bicycle sharing market, some may see it as an opportunity as they have lesser competition in their industry. But that does not stop new emerging bike sharing companies such as Anywheel, GrabCycle, and QiQi Zhixiang as they are on their way to enter the local market, having already submitted their sandbox license applications. Soon, there will be more newer bike rental options that is made available to the public once LTA has fully approve their license, there will be more bikes and e-scooters available for rental. Keep a look out especially around parks, bus stops, or mrt station entrances as these will be places that they will likely place the bikes for rent.

(By Lionel Lau)

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