Most people are familiar with the YouBike. It’s ran by the Taipei city government and operated by Giants bike company. The bikes are usually docked at specific stations and you are paying for using one until it is returned to one of the stations.
Since April of this year, there’s a new player in the public rental bike business, the oBike. The system is imported from Singapore, and the bikes do not have to be docked at a station. You can ride them and then leave them pretty much anywhere once you’ve arrived at your destination. The bikes are tracked by GPS and users can use the oBike app to find the closest available bike, reserve it and travel around the city.
In theory oBike is way more convenient, however, it’s the leaving it anywhere part that became a problem. People literally leave the oBikes everywhere. People leave the oBike in parking spaces for cars, in the middle of the sidewalk, on the side of the roads where parking isn’t permitted.
The situation has gotten to the point where the New Taipei city governments began towing illegally parked oBikes. They have towed at least 1600 oBikes in 3 months. The Taipei city government is considering to follow suit.
Has anyone seen the oBikes in Singapore? Why is it not a problem there but a problem here in Taiwan?