8 Facts About The New Bike-Sharing License That Affects Both Operators & Users

If you haven’t known, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is playing hardball with bike-sharing companies now.

On 4 May, LTA said that bike-sharing companies have to apply for a new license. If they don’t, they’ll have to shut down immediately.

Here are 8 facts about the new license for bike-sharing companies in Singapore.

1. What exactly is this new bike-sharing license for operating in public spaces?

The Parking Places Bills were amended by the Parliament on 5 Mar this year to curb problems like this.

Yeah, inconsiderate parking by Singaporeans.

Basically, the amendment calls for all bike-sharing operators to apply for a new license with LTA before they can continue operations.

The amendment actually applies to all mobility sharing operators like e-scooters, power-assisted bicycles (PABs) and bicycles.

It’s just that they’ve decided to start with the bike-sharing industry.

Because, well, the problem was worsened by these companies.

2. Bike-sharing companies worsened the problem of indiscriminate parking

Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min said that the bike companies worsened the problem of indiscriminate parking.

By not regulating users and growing their fleet too quickly.

This led to the government having to step in to enforce rules and regulations against both the users and the operators itself.

Kind of like a discipline master having to step in because the teacher and students are beyond hope.

3. Apply for the new license by 7 July…or else

So there we are, thinking, will Singapore do it? Will the government, who is known to be pro-business, do it?

And yes, they did.

This is what they had to say to bike-sharing operators.

Apply for the new license by 7 July 2018, or be shut down immediately.

And don’t try and play punk ah.

If you’re found operating without a license, you will be fined up to S$10,000, jailed up to six months, or both.

And if you continue testing the system, a fine of S$500 will be imposed for every single day of operation.

Applications for the new license will be open on 8 May and will allow the bike-sharing operators to operate up to two years.

4. What does the new licensing regime do?

So the next question is, why will anyone not apply for a license? What does it do, actually?

Here’s what it does.

Basically, it gives LTA the power to call the shots over bike-sharing operators. Including their fleet size.

Depending on how well the operators manage indiscriminate parking among other factors, they will be allowed to grow their fleets over time (isn’t that ingenious?).

Also, they have to share the following information with LTA:

• the number of bicycles deployed
• specific location of each bicycle at any point in time
• the frequency of each bicycle’s usage, and where they went
• user profile information for companies to coordinate with each other

If the information is found to inaccurate, penalties will be imposed on the companies.

5. What medicine did the LTA take? Why so fierce?

Now, here’s something that might interest you.

Bike-sharing companies knew that indiscriminate parking of bicycles are a problem when they signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with LTA.

It’s just that the companies couldn’t be bothered to curb the problem until, well, the LTA made the changes in Parliament.

But anyways, we see the problem as well. Just take a walk home tonight and count the number of bikes that parked indiscriminately. You’ll lose count.

6. Users are also affected, so don’t be too happy

Now, before you think they’re just going down hard on the companies, there’s more.

The new licensing regime also require companies to continuously charge users until they’ve scanned a unique QR code at a designated parking space for bike-sharing bicycles.

If you anyhow park, they’ll hit you where it hurts the most: your wallet.

Plus, remember #4 where different bike operators have to share user profile with each other?

If you are found indiscriminately parking three times in a row, you will be banned from bike-sharing services for a year.

And we’re not just talking about Mobike so you’ll jump to ofo.

We’re talking about a ban from every bike-sharing service in Singapore. After all, everyone knows you’re an inconsiderate bugger.

7. Other factors LTA will look at under the new licensing regime

Other than indiscriminate parking, there are a few problems LTA is looking to solve with the new licensing regime.

One is the oversupply of bicycles within Singapore. As of writing, there are 100,000 bicycles currently being operated by 6 operators.

However, statistics show that only half of the bicycles are being used actively right now. Not sure where the other half is at (canals? rivers? your house?).

They will also be looking at the demand for the operator’s service plus the availability of parking spaces.

8. Users complained that this defeats the purpose of a dockless bike rental

There’s a reason why bike-sharing operators are experiencing such a success in the bike-sharing economy.

At least right here in Singapore.

Because of convenience, right? You ride the bicycle all the way from the MRT station to below your block, then walk home.

But with the required scanning of unique QR codes at designated parking spaces, it might remove that convenience.

A bike-sharing user, Mr Mohammad Farhan Hassan, worried that there might not be a nearby designated parking space.

“Sometimes I see a bike parked in an improper place, but there is really no convenient parking spot around.”

If a dockless bike-sharing bicycle have to be parked at designated places, what makes it different from docked bike-sharing bicycles?

The entire reason why docked bicycles failed to dockless bicycles is because of this exact reason.

But then again, this is what I think. All these are caused by inconsiderate Singaporeans who care for nothing but themselves.

In a way, we kind of deserve it. Don’t you think so?

---

The “reserved seat” has been abused by people who seek validation in their lives. Agree or disagree?

Read about this sensitive topic in our app now (this is an app-exclusive content so you can’t read it on our website or Facebook)! Here’s how our app looks like:

Plus there are many other app exclusive contents, too; download the free app now!