Singaporean-based bike-sharing startup oBike is reportedly pulling out of Melbourne after the state's environmental agency imposed strict new fines for the company if people leave the bikes abandoned in less-than-ideal locations.
oBike was launched in Melbourne in June last year, and has had a controversial run in Australia. The novelty of people being able to book the bikes via an app never really took off, and the bikes were often left by people in parks, trees, and rivers.
Melbournians love their Obikes #Melbourne #obike
At one point, more than 40 bikes were recovered from the Yarra River.
Obike wasn't able to overcome the "how to stop people treating the bikes like garbage" problem. Last month the Environmental Protection Agency in Victoria stepped and set out new rules that forced the company to remove oBikes from the City of Melbourne where they are blocking roads, or face a fine of $3,000 for each dumping.
The time allowed for complying when bikes were dumped or damaged varies, but the maximum is seven days, in the instance where a bike is dumped in a waterway.
City of Melbourne mayor Sally Capp has said oBike will pull out of Victoria rather than complying with the new strict rules. Port Phillip Mayor Bernadene Voss told 3AW she had heard that the company was pulling out.
"We've been told they are going, so we have put in a phone call with them, we've yet to hear back from them," she said. "It's long overdue really. They haven't really been living up to their memorandum of understanding."
The memorandum signed with the councils stipulated that the company needed to ensure that the bikes were not left in dangerous places, and that damaged bikes were removed within 24 hours of being reported.
BuzzFeed News attempted to contact oBike, but received bounce-back emails from two contacts provided for oBike in Australia.