Bike-sharing operators have muscled in on bicycle rental kiosks at East Coast Park, hiring lorry drivers to redeploy their bikes there on Fridays or Saturdays to catch the weekend crowd.

While bike rental kiosk operators say the practice has been going on for a few months, they perceive that it has intensified in the last few weeks, saying they now see dozens of shared bikes from all three main operators here being unloaded at various parts of the park late on Fridays or early Saturday.

Because of the promotions bike-sharing operators run, and their lower charges, bike rental kiosks have seen their business drop by 20 to 40 per cent. They also groused about the problem of indiscriminate parking of these shared bikes, which the authorities say they are aware of and working to manage with the operators.

Mr Adrian Koh, general manager of CoastLine Leisure, which runs bicycle rental kiosks at East Coast Park and Pasir Ris Park, said: “The large number of bikes being unloaded not only affects us (and our business), it (also) results in unruly parking of bikes.”

In pictures he snapped of the problem, shared bikes were parked beside trees, lampposts, and sometimes, in front of his kiosks.

Mr Koh said business has slid 40 per cent, as a result.

A spokesperson for Lifestyle Recreation, which runs a bicycle rental kiosk at Pasir Ris Park, estimated a drop in the number of rentals by around 20 per cent.

A check online showed the three bike-sharing firms are offering free rides during this period — ofo and mobike are offering free rides in the month of October, while oBike has unlimited free rides till Oct 1.

In response to TODAY’s queries, homegrown bike-sharing firm oBike said that last Friday (Sept 22) was the first time it had “deployed bicycles” to East Coast Park. It added that only 30 bicycles were sent there, spread across various parts of the park.

oBike said its users have given feedback that “they enjoy using our service at the park … during weekends”.

Noting that whereas bike rental companies “offer a good variety of bicycles to cater to bike aficionados”, oBike said its bicycles “provide a convenient way to enjoy cycling around the park”.

The firm added: “We believe that this will invite more park-goers to visit and drive even more traffic to the park.”

TODAY has also reached out to mobike and ofo for their comments.

CoastLine Leisure, and Lifestyle Recreation, however, argued that they have suffered disproportionately, because they have to pay rent to run their kiosks.

TODAY understands that there are currently no plans for kiosk rental reduction.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and National Parks Board (NParks) said in a statement that they are aware of the issue of indiscriminate parking at East Coast Park, and are working together with the operators to manage the situation.

The two agencies added: “NParks has issued advisory notices informing the bike share operators to remove their bikes from the non-designated bicycle parking areas in our parks and will continue to enforce against any indiscriminate bicycle parking.”

Noting that bicycles need to be parked at designated parking locations, the LTA also said that it has taken enforcement action against indiscriminate parking.

Its spokesperson said: “After the bicycles are removed, collection notices will be issued to the operators and administration fees is imposed for the retrieval of the impounded bicycles.”

TODAY had previously reported measures taken by the bike rental kiosks and companies to mitigate the competition from bike-sharing, including offering more basic models at lower costs, and offering loyalty promotions.

The bike rental companies reiterated the point that while such measures have helped stem the bleeding, there was only so much in discounts they could offer.

Meanwhile, riders at East Coast Park TODAY spoke to welcomed having more options.

Mr Donald Lam, 30, said that consumers cared about price, above all else, noting that the bike-sharing operators occasionally offered free rides.

Administrative assistant Loo Jie Hui, 27, said the shared bicycles charge cheaper rates at shorter blocks of time, with some offering a grace period of 15 minutes, which “makes it easier for me if I only need to travel a short distance”.She added: “If I need to travel longer distances, or for a longer time, I might pick bike rental bicycles, but I would weigh the costs first.”

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by ALFRED CHUA

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