We’ve all heard by now at least one horror story of someone damaging or mistreating a shared bicycle. And of course, photos of such bikes parked in bizarre places have made the rounds on social media more than once.
Who knows why these people do what they do.
As of last July, there were about 30,000 shared bicycles in Singapore, and we currently have the luxury of choosing from six firms: oBike, ofo, Mobike, SG Bike, GBikes, and ShareBikeSG.
Just take a look below at all the ways Singaporeans have vandalized, ill-treated, and abandoned these two-wheelers.
Maybe the riders were… running away from something? Photo: Stolen NTUC Trolley & OFO Bicycle/FacebookLooks like someone got a little too excited about the view and ditched the bike in a hurry. Photo: SG bike Sharing/FacebookWhat a mangled mess. Photo: Joel Fu/Love Cycling SG Facebook pageUm, what just happened? Photo: M Feng Zhang/Bicycle Commuting Singapore Facebook pageSuch a creative way to park. Photo: Stolen NTUC Trolley & OFO Bicycle/FacebookGranted, this one’s more on Mother Nature, but damn, just look at those bees. Photo: BJ Low/Love Cycling SG Facebook pageSadly, this one did not survive the dive. Photo: Stolen NTUC Trolley & OFO Bicycle/FacebookWho knows how it even got there. Photo: SG bike Sharing/FacebookIt’s really not that hard to park inside the yellow box, guys. Photo: Dennis LH Cheong/Shared bicycles in Singapore Facebook pageWell… technically, this is a yellow box… Photo: Dennis LH Cheong/Shared bicycles in Singapore Facebook pageEven the plants weren’t spared. Photo: Stolen NTUC Trolley & OFO Bicycle/FacebookWhat an unglorified death. Photo: SG bike Sharing/FacebookSometimes, the shared bikes come with complimentary (leftover) coffee. Photo: Marieke Bink/Love Cycling SG Facebook pageThis oBike must’ve been here quite a while. Photo: James Tan/Shared bicycles in Singapore Facebook pageThis one made it all the way home. Photo: Donald Kuok/Love Cycling SG Facebook pageWhile these Mobikes only made it to the lift. Photo: Stolen NTUC Trolley & OFO Bicycle/FacebookPerhaps the sign wasn’t clear enough? Photo: Roy Cheong/Love Cycling SG Facebook pageLooks like someone mistook it for a trash can. Photo: Alex Ho/Love Cycling SG Facebook pageAn unfortunate-looking Mobike, which was picked up by the kind man behind Volunteer Bike Patrol. Photo: Zhivko Girginov/Love Cycling SG Facebook page
The “this is why we can’t have nice things” mindset aside — if you’d like to pitch in and help rescue bikes like these, check out ground-up initiatives like Volunteer Bike Patrol, a group started by Zhivko Girginov, who took it upon himself to retrieve as many damaged rental bicycles across the country as possible. You can also report indiscriminately parked shared bicycles on the government’s OneService app.
Alternatively, we can all act like decent human beings and make an effort to treat shared property with care.
