278 indiscriminately parked shared bikes impounded this year

SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has impounded 278 indiscriminately parked dockless bicycles since the start of the year, including 70 just in July.

The bulk of the impounded bikes — 212 — were from Obike, with 65 from Mobike and one from China-based firm Ofo, the LTA revealed in a Facebook post on Thursday (Aug 3).

The bicycle-sharing firms must pay a fee to collect the bicycles after they are impounded.

There are around 30,000 shared bikes currently available, and the LTA is working with the three operators to moderate their growth so as to “prevent indiscriminate parking and disamenities to the public”, Senior Minister of State (Transport) Lam Pin Min said in Parliament last month.

Stressing that bike-share operators must cooperate with the authorities, he added: “LTA requires them to promptly remove their bicycles which are indiscriminately parked. It is in their interest to cooperate with the authorities. Any public backlash may make the business model unsustainable.”

As of last month, there were 34 bicycle parking zones in place at MRT stations around Singapore.

These zones can each accommodate 1,400 bikes.

More bicycle parking zones have been planned near bus stops and MRT stations.

Another 6,000 bicycle racks will be added at various MRT stations and another 500 lots will be in place in the city area by 2019.

Dr Lam also told Parliament that the LTA had served around 1,000 notices for indiscriminately parked dockless bikes this year.