Seven companies apply to LTA for bike-sharing licence

Four bicycle-sharing firms - ofo, Mobike, SG Bike and GBikes - have submitted their applications to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for a full licence to operate dockless bicycle rental services. Three others - Anywheel, QiQi Zhixiang and GrabCycle - have submitted their applications for a regulatory sandbox licence.

The regulatory sandbox licence is for firms without a sufficiently long track record in operating a bike-sharing service in Singapore, said an LTA spokesman on Sunday (8^th July).

Three operators have previously said they would be pulling out of Singapore before the application period closed on Saturday: oBike, GBikes and ShareBikeSG. GBikes, with its fleet of 3,000, announced last month that it would cease operations on the same day the application period closed.

Regarding the application by car ride-hailing firm Grab, a company spokesman said, "We want to reduce the friction in daily commutes and help people travel easily using a combination of shared mobility services, including bicycles, cars, taxis and buses. Our application for the sandbox license underlines this effort, and we are excited to work with more partners and to expand our shared-bicycle fleet on GrabCycle."

The current GrabCycle marketplace app platform allows users to rent bicycles and e-scooters from different companies. When asked if its application to the LTA meant Grab would introduce its own bicycle fleet, the spokesman declined to comment.

LTA's spokesman said that the authority is currently reviewing all applications and will consider, among other factors, the ability and track record of operators to manage their bicycle fleets efficiently and minimise indiscriminate parking, as well as user demand and the availability of parking spaces.

The authority will announce the results of the evaluation by September.