Bike-share company ofo to quit Australia
BIKE-SHARING company Ofo, which is responsible for the scores of yellow bikes seen across Adelaide and the wider metropolitan area, is shutting down its Australian operations.
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BIKE-SHARING company Ofo, which is responsible for the scores of yellow bikes seen across Adelaide and the wider metropolitan area, is shutting down its Australian operations.
The Advertiser can reveal the Chinese-founded company will wind down its local operations within the next 60 days.
An Ofo spokesman told The Advertiser it had made a “strategic decision” to focus on “priority markets” internationally.
“Ofo will therefore wind down operations in Adelaide and Sydney during the next 60 days. As part of this process Ofo will begin to remove bikes from cities and consolidate them to our warehouses,” the spokesman said.
“This decision does not come lightly and Ofo Australia will act responsibly in each market as it winds down operations, resolving any outstanding concerns before finalising operations.”
An Adelaide City Council spokesman said it had not been advised of Ofo’s decision.
However, Port Adelaide Enfield Mayor Gary Johanson said he wasn’t surprised the trial had not been successful.
“In a wide city like Adelaide, I don’t think they can be used as a genuine mode of transport,” Mr Johanson said.
“In my area, they end up in pretty obscure locations like back alleys in semi-industrial areas and then they stay there for weeks at a time.”
The announcement comes just days after Ofo announced it would stop operating in Israel and the Middle East.
Claiming to be the biggest bike share company in the world, last year Ofo said it had 10 million share bikes in 18 countries.
In November, The Advertiser revealed Adelaide City Council received 18 complaints in the first six weeks of operation of Ofo and rival oBike, which entered the market together in October.
A blind woman fell over a bike, while other complaints included bicycles occupying public racks, falling over and causing a tripping hazard, and being abandoned on streets.
Council staff were told to direct public complaints to the bike share operators.
At the time, Ofo said it had already had 20,000 bike hires and received only one complaint.
It said vandals, not users, mistreated bikes. Ofo had reported to police one bike theft and two damaged beyond repair out of its fleet of 100.
Last month Singaporean company oBike announced it was pulling out of the Melbourne market.