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oBikes removed from London borough over obstruction complaints

Dockless bike hire is convenient - but some say it clutters the streets

Deckles cycle hire company oBike has been told to remove its “obstructive” bicycles from a London borough days after launching.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council served a highway obstruction notice on at least one bike this week after it was left in the street - as designed by the scheme.

Now the council has asked for all bikes to be temporarily withdrawn in order for a consultation to take place.

A council spokesman told the Evening Standard: “We have concerns about the way they had been placed on the streets, and protecting the health and safety of people in the borough.

“Most had been left at right angles to the kerb, partially obstructing the footpath, and creating a potential hazard for pedestrians – particularly the disabled.”

An oBike spokesman said: "We're working with councils across London to ensure the roll-out is as smooth as possible, and that oBikes are positioned in places that are convenient for the public, but do not cause an unnecessary obstruction.

“Where councils ask us to move or reposition bikes, we will comply with those requests.”

As we reported this week, Singapore firm oBike has initially deployed 400 bikes in Tower Hamlets with the promise of many more to come.

"It's super multicultural, there's a lot of cycle highways, so the commute from home to work or meeting to meeting is easy, but we felt there was a lack of bicycles available in the area," oBike’s Augustin Mallon said.

As with other dockless schemes like Ofo in Cambridge and MoBike in Manchester, bikes are located, unlocked and hired via an app with each 30-minute ride costing 50p (once you’ve paid a refundable deposit of £49).

We have also reported on incidents of vandalism in Manchester, where several MoBikes have had locks removed or ended up in canals. However, the firm says there have only been a tiny number of issues set against broader success in which it has seen nine to 10 rides per bike per day.

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6 comments

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hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
0 likes

They should make the company accountable for badly parked bikes. Also, for a laugh, they should convert some car parking spaces into bike parking bays (with the appropriate hardware to prevent cars from using the space).

Avatar
alexb | 6 years ago
0 likes

Given the fact that there is limited cycle parking around London, I do find it irritating that a company would use those spots to park their hire bikes.

It's not the first company that's tried to do this either. I seem to remember "Banana Bikes"  were scattered all over South Kensington for a while, similarly carelessly "parked".

 

Avatar
emishi55 | 6 years ago
0 likes

Not to mention the endless lines of parked single occupancy vehicles lining the streets, bumper to bumper, or the streams of rat-running vehicles that have no business using side streets and residential areas as through routes.

And so it goes on.

  

Avatar
burtthebike | 6 years ago
5 likes

While there is clearly a problem caused by these bikes, I wonder how many cars parked on the pavement or obstructing dropped kerbs are ticketed and removed?

Avatar
bob_c replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
1 like
burtthebike wrote:

While there is clearly a problem caused by these bikes, I wonder how many cars parked on the pavement or obstructing dropped kerbs are ticketed and removed?

You have obviously never been to this borough.. I can assure you that the cars would be both ticketed and sometimes also moved/removed in those situations

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to bob_c | 6 years ago
1 like
bob_c wrote:
burtthebike wrote:

While there is clearly a problem caused by these bikes, I wonder how many cars parked on the pavement or obstructing dropped kerbs are ticketed and removed?

You have obviously never been to this borough.. I can assure you that the cars would be both ticketed and sometimes also moved/removed in those situations

Must be very different from most other London boroughs then.

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