Much like the Inner West Council of Sydney, who first proposed a regulation scheme aimed at keeping those mangled oBikes from cluttering every corner of the city, but ultimately just started to impose fines and impound the things, Melbourne’s strict new policy on oBikes has resulted in the company withdrawing from the city.
Of course the council aren’t straight out blaming the combination of tough new rules and people straight up destroying the things, but it’s easy to draw that conclusion.
“We’re great supporters of bikes & cycling. OBike have temporarily withdrawn from Melbourne”, they wrote yesterday. “We’re working closely with them to remove the remaining oBikes.We recommend people stop using OBike & have asked the company to switch off their booking facility.
“OBike has not told us why they are withdrawing, we’re disappointed that individuals vandalised the bikes. We hope that in future if other share bike operators decide to come to Melbourne, the community will behave in a respectful way.”
Considering oBike didn’t bother cleaning up their bikes while they were operating here, it’s hard to see them tidying up now they have no financial incentive to do so.
Surely a retreat from the Sydney market can’t be too far behind, especially considering people have started colouring over the QR codes in marker pen.
