Environment Protection Authority gets tough with $3000 for discarded or dangerous oBikes

THE future of dockless share bikes in Melbourne looks increasingly bleak, with a fine blitz on discarded cycles and declarations the business model is failing.

THE future of dockless share bikes in Melbourne looks increasingly bleak, with a fine blitz on discarded cycles and declarations the business model is failing.

An estimated 4000 oBikes have been unloaded on to Melbourne’s streets since last June but hundreds have been vandalised or abandoned.

OBIKE HURLED AT MELBOURNE TRAIN CAUSES $300K DAMAGE

CITY COUNCILS GANG UP ON OBIKES

MINISTER’S CALL TO TACKLE OBIKE CLUTTER

Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood said the oBike business case was flawed and welcomed moves by the Environment Protection Authority to crack down on discarded oBikes.

The Singapore-based company would be slugged with $3000 fines if a bike blocking a footpath was not cleared within two hours.

A submerged oBike discarded along the Yarra River in Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis.

Yarra Riverkeeper Andrew Kelly with a pile of oBikes fished out of the Yarra. Picture: David Crosling

The same fee would apply to any broken or vandalised bikes not removed within 24 hours, and to any dumped in the city’s waterways that were not recovered after seven days of the notice being issued. Even a cluster of bikes would attract a $3000 fine per cycle.

EPA chief executive Nial Finegan said oBike Australia had been given notice of the impending blitz but no reply had been received.

OBike management signed a memorandum of understanding with Melbourne, Yarra and Port Phillip councils, setting out guidelines about the operation of the bikes. But Mr Finegan said oBike’s standards had slipped, prompting the activation of litter enforcement provisions from June 6.

“Next week, they (oBike) will be held to account by the letter of the law,’’ he said.

The move allows local council officers and Parks Victoria staff to issue fines.

An oBike waits for its next customer, submerged of St Kilda Pier, Melbourne. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

Cr Wood said the EPA action gave teeth to the councils’ agreement to tackle street clutter and clean up the city.

Several bikes have also been strewn along the shoreline of Port Phillip Bay.

More than 100 oBikes, including a haul of 76 last month, have been fished out of the river, prompting Yarra Riverkeeper Andrew Kelly to raise fears toxins from decaying bikes were polluting the waterway. Mr Kelly described the latest EPA move as tough but something had to be done.

“It’s appalling. It belittles the river and it shows the contempt that some people have for our main waterway,’’ Mr Kelly said.

More bikes had been thrown in since the April clear-up, he said — a claim backed up by location data on the oBike app.

650x700 obike graphic for HS online

‘UBER FOR CYCLISTS’

Several oBikes were turning up far from central Melbourne, according to information from the Snap Send Solve app.

Its users located dumped cycles in South Morang, Safety Beach and Lyndhurst.

One painted and broken bike was spotted in Ballarat, while another popped up at a market in Maldon, west of ­Castlemaine.

The Herald Sun invited the management of oBike Australia to comment but they did not respond.

Roads Minister Luke Donnellan put bike-hire operators on notice and warned they could lose their licences if they did not follow the rules.

[e-mail]

@IanRoyall