Ofo — the bike-sharing firm whose bicycles have seen more cases of misuse than others — has decided to step up its efforts against the spate of two-wheeler abuse here, The Straits Times reports.
The Chinese firm recently announced that it’ll be rolling out 500 new bikes equipped with upgraded features such as smart locks (unlocked with QR codes) in lieu of the number locks currently used.
GPS tracking will also be used in ofo’s upgraded mobile app to help users locate nearby bikes, but this’ll only apply to the newer two-wheelers, and not the older models.
It’s about time that ofo made the changes, considering bike-sharing rivals Mobike and oBike have been utilizing GPS tracking and smart locks from the start.
More so than its competitors, ofo’s bikes have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Folks have been deliberately thrashing, dismantling, and locking up the yellow bikes for themselves — generally ruining the whole bike-sharing experience for everyone.
The low charge of $0.50 per trip didn’t help things either. But that’s fixed, now that ofo made it mandatory for users to make a one-time deposit of $39 on registration, with rides going at $1 per hour.
Maybe this time, folks will have to think twice before misusing the bikes. Though if someone really feels determined enough to toss bikes into canals and drains, there’s nothing much anyone can do about it.
