oBike taps geofencing technology to curb errant parking

SINGAPORE — Customers of homegrown bike-sharing operator oBike can expect more stringent monitoring of where they leave the bicycles after use, after the firm introduced geofencing technology on Friday (Oct 27).

After a six-month grace period, recalcitrant users who dump oBike’s bicycles indiscriminately instead of parking at designated areas will be banned from using the service.

Users will start with 100 points each, earning one point for parking properly each time, and incurring a 10-point deduction if they leave the bike outside the virtual geographical boundaries of designated parking spots. A user cannot rent bikes from oBike anymore when he runs out of points.

oBike’s move comes after it and other bike-sharing operators here signed an agreement with the authorities and town councils earlier this month to adopt geofencing technologies to root out the scourge of indiscriminately parked dockless bicycles.

oBike’s geofencing feature covers over 1,100 bike-parking zones across 150 bus stops and 50 MRT stations islandwide. While many of these parking zones are clearly marked out by yellow boxes, some have virtual geographical boundaries that must be identified with mobile applications that support geofencing, such as oBike’s.

Geofencing is a location-based service that notifies smartphone users when they enter an area defined by virtual boundaries.

Points accumulated by oBike users can be used to redeem other rewards, such as shopping vouchers and lifestyle products.

Acknowledging that more can be done to educate users on bike-sharing etiquette, oBike’s co-founder Edward Chen said: “That is why we are offering a six-month trial for users to familiarise themselves with the new feature. Our aim is to nudge users into positive bike-sharing behaviour and ultimately shape a more gracious cycling community.”

SG Bike, the newest operator to hit the market in August, uses a device called a “geostation”, which emits a radio-frequency identification field that recognises the firm’s bicycles parked nearby. The field’s radius ranges from 5m to 25m around each geostation, and the parking zone is marked by a painted yellow box.

Its bikes come with built-in alarms that sound if users park outside designated zones at the end of rides. Users will also be notified through the SG Bike’s app to move the bike into a proper parking zone.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) currently requires operators to remove shared bicycles that are indiscriminately parked within half a day. Operators will be required to remove faulty bicycles within a day, and provide public liability insurance for users.

As part of the agreement with the authorities signed earlier this month, operators will be required to remove faulty bicycles within a day, and provide public liability insurance for users. They have also agreed to share anonymised trip data with the LTA, to “facilitate the planning of active mobility infrastructure”. Information of users will be given to the authorities to facilitate investigation and enforcement work in accident cases that result in injury, death or property damage.

On their part, the authorities will provide more yellow boxes for bicycle parking in public housing estates, parks, park connectors and at MRT stations and bus interchanges. More than 4,000 boxes with space for 20,000 bicycles will be provided by the end of the year.