Matt Golding “What’s made it very difficult for everybody involved is the behaviour of people using the oBikes,” she said. “It’s so hard to regulate people’s behaviour in the way that they’re using oBikes – or bikes of that nature generally – so it’s a big challenge for operators. “We welcome operators of cycling businesses because it gives people more of a choice in terms of how they’re going to get around our city and how they’re going to enjoy our city so on the whole we are supportive of that.” Lord mayor Sally Capp announces that oBikes are leaving. Credit:Jason South

Cr Capp said Melburnians should not use the yellow bicycles from now on. “The clean up process is that we’re working with oBikes to collect the bikes. The difficulty is that people are still using the bikes," she said Loading "So that’s why we’re recommending that people stop using the bikes, we’ve also recommended to oBikes that they disable the bikes then we’ll be able to continue collecting them in an orderly fashion. "They’re being delivered to our impounding facility and then we’re working with oBike as to how they want to the collect them and move them on.”

The company had been due to provide a plan for managing abandoned and damaged bikes by the middle of last week, and the plan was supposed to be implemented by Wednesday. Port Phillip mayor Bernadene Voss said trucks had been collecting abandoned bikes in St Kilda over the weekend. "They can't cope with the new regulations that's been imposed on them," she said. A new bike share company called Mobike is set to launch next month, Ms Voss said. So long oBikes ... Credit:Ashwini Rao

The Age has approached oBike for comment. The yellow rental bikes have been controversial in Melbourne, with hundreds left strewn on footpaths and roads and more than 100 fished out of the Yarra River since the company started in Melbourne on June 14 last year, leaving them just two days shy of one year of operation. In addition to being dumped in the Yarra, oBikes have been left in trees, on street signs, and, in one instance, stacked on top of a portaloo. The EPA's chief executive Nial Finegan said it could not confirm whether the company was removing its operations from Melbourne but said the company would be fined for any bikes that were left behind. OBikes have been found in all sorts of places. Credit:Justin McManus

“If oBikes do decide to leave, any bikes they leave behind can be treated as abandoned under the Environment Protection Act 1970. Authorities can collect them and then send the bill to the oBike owners," he said. “So not only could they be fined under the act but also under the terms of the notice,” said Mr Finegan. The withdrawal from the Melbourne market comes weeks after the City of Adelaide council ordered oBike out of the South Australian capital after granting it a permit to operate in October last year. A spokesman from the City of Sydney said the company is still operating in the city. With Michael Wastell