Gone, but oBikes not forgotten in Melbourne

THE company behind oBikes quit Melbourne in June, leaving councils and water authorities to clean up the mess. But there’s one place dozens of abandoned bikes could be stuck forever.

THE number of oBikes still sitting on the Yarra riverbed could be more than 80, according to the contractor who fished out almost 200 for the Singapore share bicycle operator.

Jason Witman of Witt Marine said the oBikes were submerged in the river from Charlies Grimes Bridge at Docklands all the way up to Dights Falls at Abbotsford.

“There’s in excess of 80 down there, and many of them are near the riverbank. I have a fair idea of where they are,’’ he said.

MORE: BIKES FISHED OUT OF THE YARRA

GOODBYE OBIKE

BIKES LEFT IN STRANGE PLACES

oBikes being recovered from the Yarra River. Picture: oBike Australia

Mr Wittman and his team pulled out 188 oBikes during four sweeps of the river for oBike management last year and earlier this year.

The company has since left Australia and has filed for bankruptcy in Singapore.

While most of the discarded cycles have now been removed from the city’s streets and edges of the waterways but Yarra riverkeeper Andrew Kelly agreed many remain on the riverbed.

“There’s still a lot in the river, I’m sure of it,’’ Mr Kelly said.

Short of an expensive dredging of the Yarra, the bikes seem destined to be embedded in the riverbed sludge.

Parks Victoria has fished about 10 of the dockless bikes out of the Yarra in the past month.

In April 76 oBikes were fished out of the city’s main waterway as part of the Yarra River Blitz project. And last year, oBike Australia used a contractor to extract dozens of bikes that had been thrown into the river.

The Singapore company quit Melbourne in June, leaving councils and water authorities to clean up the mess.

Melbourne City Council has revealed it has now collected 235 bikes including 60 that were recycled. The rest were returned to oBike.

The company has since filed for insolvency in Singapore leaving many users from around the world still seeking their deposits back from the company. Melbourne users had to pay $69 bond to secure the bike’s services.

A submerged oBike discarded along the Yarra River. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

oBikes arrived in June last year and their use was so uncontrolled that by October the management had signed an operations agreement with Melbourne, Yarra and Port Phillip councils.

As many as 4000 bikes were left on the city’s streets, but many people vandalised or dumped them.

Hundreds of oBikes stored at a disused brick factory, in Nunawading in October 2017. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

By June this year, the oBike depot in Nunawading had been abandoned. Picture: Ian Royall

The City of Yarra has recently rounded up 20 bikes and taken them to scrap.

The bikes have almost disappeared from public view but customised bikes have still been spotted recently in Hurstbridge, Ascot Vale and Traralgon.

Dockless bike operators are now retreating from the Australian market.

OBike pulls out of Melbourne and enters liquidation in Singapore: Why hasn’t bike-sharing kicked off in Australia?https://t.co/tVemjGKl8F pic.twitter.com/C2b5iWDyH9

— Shaw Gidley (@ShawGidley) July 15, 2018

Mobike, was in talks with the city council about launching in Melbourne but a start date has not been set.

Fellow Beijing-based company ofo is leaving Australia after setting up in Adelaide and Sydney. And ReddyGo is also withdrawing from the Sydney market.

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@IanRoyall