Melbourne council puts the brakes on oBikes clutter

The company behind Melbourne’s polarising oBikes will face fines and have bicycles impounded if it breaches new rules under a council crackdown.

Dozens of the eye-catching yellow bikes have been targeted by vandals since they were launched in June. Many have needed to be fished up of the Yarra River, while some have even been spotted dangling from trees in the CBD.

“Since the Singapore-based company introduced the yellow bikes into greater Melbourne earlier this year, there have been ongoing issues with oBikes obstructing pedestrian access to footpaths and being left in inappropriate locations,” a spokesperson for the City of Melbourne said in a statement today.

Under a new agreement between the Melbourne, Yarra and Port Phillip councils, oBikes Australia will be required to relocate dangerously abandoned bikes within two hours and repair ones that are damaged of faulty.

The bikes will be impounded if the company does not comply, and only released back if a $50 fee per bike has been paid within 14 days.

If oBikes does not claim the bikes, they will be recycled.