Public bike share is here to stay in Sydney, despite a major player pulling out of Melbourne in the past month.
OBike withdrew from Melbourne after the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) threatened $3000 fines per bike for illegal dumping.
The strict regulations also meant that bicycles creating hazards must be moved within two hours, with 24 hours to remove damaged or vandalized bicycles.
The company has also recently withdrawn its operations from Singapore.
The City of Sydney told ABC Online that there were no plans to legislate in the same way as the City of Melbourne against share bike operators.
While there’s been talk of setting up codes of conduct for Sydney, nothing has come of it as yet.
Transport for NSW have acknowledged that they “want to encourage operators to keep offering this low impact and affordable service, but not at the expense of clogging the city with broken and unusable bikes that block access.”
Share bikes have also been accommodated and added to the NSW Future Transport 2056 plans.
oBike is one of six dockless public bike share companies currently operating in NSW. Others include Mobike, Ready Go, ofo, Airbike and Earthbike.
Dockless bike share is sweeping the world and offers enormous promise as a healthy, convenient and an additional tax-free transport option.
Currently, bike share accounts for more than 6,500 active transport trips per day across Sydney. That’s 6,500 bike trips that may not have happened without the ease and convenience of dockless share bikes.
Bicycle Network has been a strong supporter of public bike share since they first arrived in Australia.
“Many cities around the world have multiple public bike options and anything that makes it easier for people to take the healthy transport option and ride a bike is positive,” Bicycle Network Chief Executive Officer Craig Richards said.
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