SINGAPORE — From over 100,000 shared bicycles at its peak in September last year, Singapore could soon have just about 3,500, as major operators are pulling out of the market amid financial troubles.

The latest to do so is Mobike Singapore, which applied to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to surrender its bicycle-sharing licence on Monday (March 11), the regulator said on Tuesday.

Under the Parking Places Act, a bicycle-sharing licence can only be surrendered with the written consent of the LTA.

A spokesperson from Beijing-based on-demand services company Meituan Dianping Group, which acquired Mobike last April, confirmed the news in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the decision to pull out from Singapore “is part of a plan to rationalise Mobike’s operations in South-east Asia”.

“Mobike has submitted a proposal to Singapore’s LTA for a managed and orderly withdrawal from the market.”

The spokesperson added: “We will work with LTA to explore all options, including the potential to transfer our operations or licence to existing licensees, to minimise impact to consumers.”

“We have also committed that should there be any withdrawal it will be managed in a highly organised and responsible manner.”

Last September, the LTA awarded full bike-sharing licences to Ofo, Mobike and SG Bike.

At the time, there were 100,000 shared bikes in Singapore, and the licences placed caps on each operator’s fleet. As a result, Ofo and Mobike had to downsize their fleets to a maximum of 25,000 bicycles each.

But since then, beleaguered Ofo has had its licence suspended and has been told to clear out all of its bikes from public places by Wednesday.

SG Bike is now operating with 3,000 bikes — its maximum fleet size.

The LTA also granted operator Anywheel a sandbox licence, which caps its fleet at 1,000 bikes. A spokesperson for the firm said that it is currently operating about 500 bicycles.

On Monday, Mobike announced plans to pull out of some Asian countries and re-evaluate its units in other overseas markets amid a wide-scale contraction in the market.

Mobike, which has launched its signature orange bikes in markets including Australia, Europe and the United States, was bought by Meituan Dianping for US$2.7 billion.

LTA said it is assessing Mobike’s request, and will work with Mobike to ensure that it has fully explored all options, including its proposal to transfer assets or operations to existing licensees, to minimise impact to consumers.

An LTA spokeperson said that the authority has emphasised to Mobike that if its application to surrender its licence is granted, it must conduct a proper exit by removing all bicycles from public places, and provide refunds for user deposits and pre-paid credits in accordance with the company’s terms and conditions.

Mobike has also withdrawn its applications for a Personal Mobility Device-sharing licence, and to increase its maximum allowable shared bicycle fleet size.