Shared bikes are looking to be a form of wastage

With never-ending needs and wants from consumers and limited resources to go around, misallocation of any scarce resources can have its consequences.

The raw materials used to produce each bicycle, for instance, can be put to better use, but as the business of bike-sharing continues to expand around the world, this will unlikely be happening.

At the domestic level, the two-wheelers can be seen in clusters all over the island here, not being used and taking up spaces.

In a study done by researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, they found that each of these dockless shared bicycles was used for merely half an hour a day.

The introduction of shared bikes has also created a burden on public sector resources. People have been throwing bicycles into water channels, down a housing block, and contributed to other forms of property abuse.

The authorities have to spend more on law and enforcement, on educating the public, and on other needs that arise, which include infrastructure.

What looks to be an oversupply and low usage of bicycles is most likely due to bike-sharing companies reading the market signals wrong. There are way too many of these companies competing in Singapore and they are all trying to outdo one another by increasing the number of bicycles.

It is a form of wastage, so how can this enterprise be a solution to going green?