LTA orders oBike to remove its bicycle fleet by July 4
oBike will have to remove its entire 14,000-strong fleet by July 4.
SINGAPORE — Beleaguered bicycle sharing operator oBike has been ordered to remove its entire 14,000-strong fleet by next Wednesday (July 4), failing which the company or its liquidator would have to pay to reclaim the bicycles impounded by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
The deadline was issued following a meeting with oBike's representatives on Wednesday, LTA said on Thursday.
"During the meeting, LTA instructed oBike to work with its liquidator to remove its bicycles from public spaces by July 4 2018, so that public streets would not be cluttered with bicycles that cannot be hired," the authority said in a statement.
"Should there be unremoved oBike bicycles after this date, LTA will progressively remove these bicycles from public spaces. oBike or its liquidator will have to pay the relevant towing and storage fees in order to claim impounded bicycles from LTA."
The authority did not say how much it could potentially charge oBike for the removal or storage of the bicycles.
An oBike spokerson said that the company and its liquidators "will try our best to comply" with the LTA's request.
The bike rental company abruptly announced on Monday that it was ending its services in Singapore. TODAY broke the news a day later that the company, which has operations in 22 other Asian and European destinations, had gone into liquidation in Singapore.
oBike has claimed that it had more than one million users here. Complaints from irate users have been piling up in recent days, as they scramble to recover the mandatory deposits — up to S$49 — that they placed with oBike.
The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said on Thursday that it had received 772 complaints against oBike, a 28-fold spike from Monday when news first broke.
The consumer watchdog pointed out, however, that once the liquidation process begins, "any claim by consumers against oBike will not be able to proceed".
In its advisory, Case advised affected consumers to file their proofs of debt, including relevant receipts or other supporting documents, against oBike with the company's appointed liquidator.
Earlier on Tuesday, Case had also advised consumers who paid the debt-ridden bicycle-sharing operator in the last 120 days to consider lodging a chargeback claim with their credit-card issuer.
The local banks told TODAY that they were working with payment companies such as MasterCard, Visa and PayPal to process the chargeback requests.
A DBS spokesman said: "As with all chargeback cases, customers will receive temporary credit while the chargeback is being processed."
Ms Choo Wan Sim, UOB's head of cards and payments (Singapore), added: "Several cardmembers have contacted us to raise a chargeback for 'services not rendered' by oBike.
"Based on the card schemes' chargeback rules, we are assisting our cardmembers to seek a pro-rated refund based on oBike services not being available."
oBike's co-founder Edward Chen told TODAY on Tuesday that there was an "existing plan for the whole (liquidation) process" without elaborating when pressed on whether the company would offer refunds on the deposits.
Mr Daniel Tay, a lawyer and partner at law firm Chan Neo LLP, said that while filing a proof of debt may be the only option for affected customers, the process could take more than a year.
In announcing its closure on Monday, oBike cited a new licensing regime for bicycle-sharing operators to tackle indiscriminate parking as a reason for its withdrawal from the Singapore market.
LTA defended its licensing regime on Thursday, saying that "over-regulation could lead to higher compliance costs for operators which could in turn be passed on to users, and stifle innovation".
"The licensing of license bicycle-sharing operators is not intended to address non-parking issues such as service standards and user deposits," LTA added.
"Bicycle-sharing operators who share our vision and are able to operate responsibly are welcome to apply for a licence to operate in Singapore."
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