ofo gets bike share licence for 25,000-strong fleet in Singapore

But it got disappointed over the size of the fleet it was allowed to operate with.

Not all operators were pulled out of the bike share game in Singapore. ofo got a full bike sharing licence from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to operate a fleet of 25,000 bikes in Singapore.

“The awarded licence will provide ofo with operational certainty to continue to provide efficient and affordable short distance mobility in Singapore,” it said in an announcement.

However, according to ofo Singapore general manager Isabelle Neo, the fleet size awarded to them was disappointing as it will not be able to meet the bike sharing demand in Singapore.

“Since our launch in Singapore, ofo has enabled about 35 million rides to our 1.2 million users, as their short distance mobility partner. With a smaller fleet size, access to a shared bike will be significantly harder for our users,” Neo said.

In 2018, ofo facilitated about 100 trips every minute in Singapore with each trip recording an average distance of 1.26 km. The company said that almost 40% of these trips start or end at MRT/LRT stations and bus stops.

“We will see more parking spaces progressively in convenient locations, especially those with higher demand for bicycle parking,” ofo Singapore added.

The new licensing framework also comes with a list of measures for ofo to comply with, most of which are aimed at curbing parking infractions.

“ofo has publicly welcomed some of these measures such as the QR-code geo-fence process with the belief that these solutions, when comprehensively rolled out, can be a part of an effective solution to ensure that its users and community at large will adopt a uniformed set of responsible cycling etiquettes,” it added.