SINGAPORE: More than 58,000 oBikes have been removed from public spaces around Singapore after the company went into liquidation earlier this year, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Wednesday (Sep 26).
In response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, LTA said that it has been working with FTI Consulting, the liquidators of oBike Asia, to remove the bicycles from the streets. Some of those which were removed by LTA officers are now temporarily stored at holding sites and are being progressively removed to be scrapped, LTA added.
Thousands of oBikes parked at an LTA building near the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).
One of the sites where the bikes are being stored is an LTA building situated between Pelton Canal and the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE), near the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).
When Channel NewsAsia visited the area last weekend, thousands of bikes were seen stacked up in the grounds of the building.
Thousands of oBikes parked at an LTA building near the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).
Thousands of oBikes parked at an LTA building near the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).
When FTI Consulting was appointed as oBike’s liquidators, it said it would work with LTA and other vendors to ensure that oBike’s bicycles “continue to be collected and thereafter, realised in an orderly manner”.
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In July, Channel NewsAsia observed oBikes being scrapped at a Tuas compound.
The bike-sharing company announced in June that it is shutting operations in Singapore, citing difficulties in meeting the new requirements put in place by LTA to tackle indiscriminate parking.
It owes users S$8.9 million in total, according to FTI Consulting’s senior managing director Joshua Taylor.
