Bike-share company forced to retrieve bicycles from Yarra as social media posts document bizarre fate of others

Yellow, submarined: scores of oBikes fished out of Melbourne river

More than 40 oBikes have been found submerged in the Yarra river in the latest saga for the dockless bikes. On Tuesday, contractors working for oBike spent over four hours fishing the bikes from the depths of Melbourne’s river.

Cameron Schwab (@CamSchwab) How are those O Bikes going? #yarra pic.twitter.com/hlCxUDm4At

#obike is a #fail in #Melbourne #yarrariver #iphoneography #igers A post shared by Leo Ibrahim (@librahim) on Sep 25, 2017 at 7:39pm PDT

Stephen van der Tang (@svandertang) Obike! This pic sums up the epic fail that it is. #obike #obikefail #bottomoftheyarra #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/Ok8QRYYaUF



The bike-sharing company, oBike, launched in Melbourne on 15 June before spreading to Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

One contractor, Jason Wittman, told the Age: “This company comes to Australia to provide a service and some people have got nothing better to do than throw them into the water.”



The episode comes shortly after the city’s lord mayor, Robert Doyle, described the bikes as “urban clutter”.



It is not the first time the yellow shared bikes have been spotted in the most bizarre places. Dozens of images circulated on social media appear to show the bikes wrapped around light poles, suspended from trees or perched on top of portable toilets.

Cam Bendy (@CamBendy) Just hanging around in Melbourne... #obike pic.twitter.com/995Dh9GfCW

Daniel du Plooy (@DanielRDuP) This is why we can't have nice things. #obike #ptv #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/nEwdFK8T8a

An oBike stranded on top of portable toilets in Prahran, Melbourne

The Singaporean company requests on its website that upon returning a bike: “It would be good if you can return the bike to an area designated [as a] public bike parking area.”

Bike-sharing schemes have a vast array of benefits including financial savings, transport flexibility as well as reducing traffic congestion and environmental pollution. They also make cities an overall attractive and sustainable place to live.

The system seems to be pretty functional in cities around the world with successes in London, Paris and Amsterdam. But the concept hasn’t translated so well in Australia, much to the joy of social media users.

Talei Lewis (@pissygalore) Saw my first #obike abandonment today on the Hursty line and I am LIVING

Hipstergeddon (@hipstergeddon) Would look great with a #obike infront https://t.co/vU0RQEf4nI

The scheme relies on a self-regulating system – a nice idea in theory, but it banks entirely on the good faith of the general public.

Alex Long (@firstyearout) First obike test and it seems to be available in someone's house #obike #obikefail pic.twitter.com/Em7Gy8hPG8

Sydney now has about 1,500 bikes from a variety of bike-sharing schemes, with Melbourne hosting more than 1,250 just from oBike alone.



Australia, this is why we can’t have nice things.

