Mobike to launch 1,000 parking zones this year
Bike-sharing platform Mobike expects to add up to 1,000 bicycle parking zones here by the end of the year.
Designated bicycle parking areas are already available for Mobike users at university campuses, shopping malls and office buildings, the company said yesterday.
Users can locate them using the Mobike mobile app.
Some locations are Singapore Management University, National University of Singapore, Republic Polytechnic, Velocity@Novena, United Square and One KM mall as well as office blocks including 10, Raeburn Park and Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2.
The China-based company's bikes are equipped with smart bike parking technology, it said.
The technology can monitor whether a user has parked the bicycle correctly and trigger an alert on his phone to remind them to park within the marked area.
The app will reward users who park inside the designated area and demerit users who park inappropriately.
"We... want to enable communities across the city to benefit from bike-sharing without the parking confusion," said Mr Florian Bohnert, head of international expansion.
There are two other bike-sharing firms operating here - oBike and ofo. Mobike, which launched its service on March 21 after quietly rolling out its bicycles over the last few months, is the newest firm.
It has three million bicycles across 50 cities in China.
The Government said last month it would scrap plans to launch a public bicycle-sharing scheme as private firms are fulfilling the demand for such a service.
But some errant users have abused the service by parking them in inappropriate places, keeping them for personal use or damaging them. - THE STRAITS TIMES
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