Local governments need to impose regulations on the rapidly growing bicycle-sharing business — and fast — amid a growing outcry from residents and city councilors that certain rental bikes, especially those provided by oBike Asia Pte, are being parked anywhere.
Unlike the government-backed bike-sharing systems such as YouBike in Taipei and New Taipei City, iBike in Taichung, T-Bike in Tainan and C-Bike in Kaohsiung, the privately run oBike system allows riders to find, rent and pay for bikes through a smartphone app, unlocking their chosen bike by scanning a QR code printed on its frame.
The bikes are now available in more than 10 major cities in Taiwan, but one factor makes them stand out from other bike-sharing schemes, and it is that factor that is spurring their popularity: OBike’s dockless bike-sharing operation does not require renters to return a bike to a fixed station; instead it can be left anywhere and the next user can find it through the app’s GPS transponder.
While there are no hard data on bike-sharing usage in Taiwan, the number of such bikes has been steadily increasing as the number of bike-sharing businesses increase alongside society’s awareness of the need to address traffic jams and air pollution.
To the Singaporean operator of oBikes, the convenience of allowing riders to leave bikes at their destination is a user-friendly operational model, which has helped boost business in Taiwan.
However, the haphazard parking of oBikes has caused regulatory problems, harmed the rights of local residents and infringed upon the parking rights of others. The dockless operational model has also raised concerns that oBikes could be abandoned, stolen and vandalized.
Amid the growing complaints from residents and motorists, in New Taipei City — where authorities had towed 4,767 oBikes in two weeks as of Friday — the Department of Transportation on July 7 said it would ban oBikes from public parking spaces in 11 densely populated districts.
The Taichung Transportation Bureau has warned the company to stay away from the city, vowing to tow every oBike there, while the Taipei City Government said it is considering drafting bicycle parking regulations to manage shared bikes.
Netizens have mixed views about dockless bike-sharing schemes, with some finding them easy to use, while others say they create public nuisance.
Analyses by transportation experts show the big picture is still clouded, with some wondering if the sharing model will be viable in the long term, considering their large initial investments, maintenance costs and cheap usage rates.
However, what is clear to public authorities are the daily problems the dockless operations cause.
Admittedly, the oBike business model is convenient and cost-effective, but only because the company has externalized its docking costs to Taiwanese taxpayers, with whose money the authorities have built parking spaces for oBikes, which means virtually no investment by the company in docking stations, while it occupies public roads for its own profit.
If a mass of oBikes at any one location inconveniences local residents, then the company should be responsible for promptly retrieving them, rather than leaving the towing and clean-up costs to the authorities.
The era of bike-sharing is here to stay, as it helps decrease carbon emissions and the concept of a sharing economy has become increasingly prevalent.
The question is not if the authorities should ban oBikes, but how to cope with their increasing popularity and regulate the industry so that operators are accountable for any consequences entailed by their irresponsible and opportunistic actions.
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