Ofo Became 2nd oBike & Could Be Shut Down For Real in Feb 2019

Boon Hun

2019-01-16 , 2:23 pm

Okay, I get it.

You think the headline’s a misnomer.

Aren’t they already closed down?

In case you’ve already lost track of the ofo case…

Here’s a Flashback on What Happened Previously in ofo

On 27 Dec 2018, news broke out that ofo users are now having difficulty getting their refunds.

Yup, totally similar to the oBike incident.

And it was found out that ofo’s social media has not been active for two months.

Like my wise, handsome colleague said: If you don’t exist on Social Media, that just means you or your company doesn’t exist.

And like a bad tarot card reading, his prediction came true when it was discovered that ofo’s office has been empty for weeks.

Turns Out ofo Owes Money To Other People Too

It was found out that ofo owed money to more than just their users.

They owed two logistics companies around $814k.

One recruitment firm who supplied around 200 temporary staff is also demanding for payment from ofo.

And to put the last nail on the coffin, they’ve allegedly owed their own employees money as well.

And Now, ofo Could Be Shut Down For Real

So why for real?

Isn’t it obvious enough that they’re on their last ropes?

True, but now, LTA has stepped in with their two-cents worth.

Bike-Sharing License

In case you’ve missed it, you’ll need to register and obtain a bike-sharing license from the LTA before you can operate in Singapore.

The licensing regime was put into place because bike-sharing firms like ofo don’t know how to play well and lead to an oversupply of bicycles and a lack of regulations over users.

So they came up with this regime to force the firms to regulate their fleet of bicycles better.

ofo’s License At Risk of Getting Suspended

On 15 Jan, LTA announced that ofo has breached multiple regulatory requirements of the bike-sharing licensing scheme.

They’ve not managed to reduce the size of their fleet of bicycles to 10,000, nor did they implement the mandatory QR-code parking system in their app.

That’s despite multiple warnings and actions taken against them by the LTA.

So LTA has had enough and gave the ultimatum.

Comply by 13 Feb 2019 or get your license suspended.

So, yeah, ofo might stop operating in Singapore by Feb 2019.

Judging by the troubles they’re having now, complying with LTA rules might be the last thing on their minds.

Of course, the first thing on their minds (we hope) should be on paying back their debts.

Image: Screengrab from LTA Facebook Page

And with them allegedly ghosting users, pretty sure they’d be ghosting the authorities, too.

After all, remember a yellowish company known as oBike?