Chinese bike-share company ofo launches in Adelaide
IT’S the yellow bicycle-share sensation that has been a success at every destination it’s landed — The Chinese start-up hopes Adelaide is next.
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IT’S the yellow bicycle-share sensation hoping it can take Adelaide by storm.
Booming Chinese start-up ofo has made every post a winner since it launched in Beijing in 2014, and is now valued at $1 billion.
The distinctive yellow bikes will become familiar sights in Adelaide from Tuesday as part of a pilot program that will go a long way towards determining ofo’s potential national success.
Fifty bikes — all equipped with smart locks and “unpoppable” solid rubber tyres — can be rented through ofo’s smartphone app and ideally returned to a number of preferred parking zones throughout the city and North Adelaide.
Riders pay $1 a half-hour, with the maximum cost capped at $5 a trip.
Head of strategy Scott Walker said a local operations team would ensure bikes remained well maintained, equipped with helmets and inside the CBD area.
“It’s very resource intensive to get right in Australia, and it’s something we’ve set up to make sure we can do it right from the beginning,” he said on Monday.
Mr Walker said the company was still working out its plans to launch in Australia, but was confident the paid bike-share concept could work in the city of churches.
“We chose Adelaide because we have strong government relations there, both with the State Government and the Adelaide City Council, but also because it has a strong environmental and social focus,” he said.
“The city is also really flat and there isn’t a dockless scheme there.”
Bike-share programs traditionally haven’t been as popular in Australia as they are in Europe, but Mr Walker insisted there was a market due to the country’s “significant transport gaps and a clear need for better short distance point-to-point transport solutions”.
Lord Mayor Martin Haese said ofo would “add to the options available for people to get around and enjoy our city”, and confirmed its free bike hire scheme would continue at least until next June.
“Recognising the enormous social, health and environmental benefits, the City of Adelaide is keen to make our city as bicycle-friendly as possible and encourage more residents and visitors to consider using bikes as part of their everyday lifestyle,” Mr Haese said.
Under the current scheme — run jointly by BikeSA and the council — riders can hire bikes from the city, North Adelaide and seven suburban locations.
Since its launch three years ago, ofo has provided four billion rides to more than 200 million users across the globe.
It operates in 13 countries, but plans to expand to another 20 countries inside the next year.
Ofo will be hoping its bikes are better looked after than in Melbourne, where more than 40 dumped bikes were fished out of the Yarra river.
Huge stacks of misused bikes have also piled up at ofo’s Beijing repair centres.
The company will initially strip Australian users who fail to comply with ofo’s terms of service of “credit points”, rather than fining them for misuse.
China’s largest cities have long had bike-sharing schemes to ease crowding on roads.