![[2021 List] Online Kombucha Brands That Have Delivery In Klang Valley](https://theinformationsuperhighway.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/kombucha-onlinedelivery-klangvalley-002-1024x536-360x180.jpg)
The bike-sharing landscape in Singapore has boomed and gone bust over the years.
In 2017, it was saturated with seven bike-sharing players, but many also left the market within a few years.
Of those seven players, only two are strong today – Anywheel and SG Bike.
After the takeover of Mobike, SG Bike has become the largest bike-sharing player in Singapore with a current fleet of 25,000 bikes.
It started with 200 bicycles
Sean Tay (left) and Benjamin Oh (right) / Photo credit: SG Bike
SG Bike was founded by Singaporeans Benjamin Oh, Sean Tay and David Lim and launched in Holland Bukit Panjang in August 2017 with a small fleet size of 200 bikes.
It's Benjamin and David's first rodeo in the bicycle industry. Sean, on the other hand, is involved in his family's bike rentals along East Coast Park, which has been around for over 30 years.
The idea of starting a bike sharing business came about in the early days of 2008 when there was interest in using technology to change the way people can rent bikes, as they can in international markets is watching.
However, due to the difficulties in the landscape and the availability of technology, many challenges have been overcome.
– Benjamin Oh, co-founder of SG Bike
When the Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) launched a tender for a national bike sharing scheme in 2016, it offered the trio a business opportunity.
However, the government initiative was later shut down after several private companies offered such services.
Unimpressed, the three 28-year-olds were determined to bring shared bikes to Singapore and were working on a dockless bike sharing system.
SG Bike was later conceived as a joint venture with ISOTeam to enable a localized bike sharing experience.
Although the bike sharing market was saturated when it first started, they never felt like it was an inopportune time to start.
“We believe there is no right or wrong time to enter the market. We wanted to get in as early as possible to make a difference in the bike sharing industry, ”said Benjamin.
An alternative means of transportation for S & # 39; poreans
Photo credit: SG Bike
Bicycles have always been a popular form of transport in Singapore, and bicycle sharing has helped improve the accessibility of bicycles.
Bike sharing is intended to improve the (transport) experience and give as many people as possible access to bicycles by using technology.
(It) provides easy access to a bicycle at any point of a user's commute in Singapore, even outside of their neighborhood.
– Benjamin Oh, co-founder of SG Bike
In addition, it offers users a healthy and active lifestyle and serves as a quick travel option to complete the first and last mile.
Also, when sharing bicycles, users don't have to worry about the costs associated with owning and maintaining bicycles.
A unique offering from SG Bike is that unlike some other bike sharing companies, it doesn't require users to make a deposit first. Instead, users can opt for pay-per-use or subscribe to a driving pass.
With the pay-per-use model, users pay the remaining amount on their SG Bike account for each trip.
Standard bikes cost S $ 1 for the first 30 minutes and S $ 0.03 for each subsequent minute, while recreational bikes cost S $ 3 for the first 30 minutes and S $ 0.06 for each subsequent minute.
Prices for SG Bike tickets / screenshot from the SG Bike website
With a driving pass, however, users can ride the standard bicycles for an unlimited period of 30 minutes during the period of validity. Each additional use is charged a pay-per-use price: S $ 3.90 for a 7-day pass and S $ 11.90 for a 30-day pass.
Solving the rubbish problem from bicycles
In the early days, the indiscriminate parking of bicycles was one of the main problems with sharing bicycles.
Photo credit: SG Bike
To address this issue, SG Bike developed proprietary geostation technology that uses RFID to encourage users to park in specific locations (e.g. yellow boxes and bike racks).
They worked closely with their respective city councils to discuss how they could potentially use their geostatization technology on empty decks and in the neighborhood.
This made SG Bike the only bike-sharing provider in Singapore that back then required users to park bicycles in specific locations.
Photo credit: SG Bike
Otherwise, a warning tone will sound when the bicycle is locked and the user will be penalized if he insists on leaving the bicycle parked indiscriminately after a grace period of 15 minutes in order to unlock and relocate the bicycle.
Benjamin said the initial reaction was mixed as it initially met resistance from users who were used to being able to park the bikes at random.
The majority of users do not see the need to park shared bicycles responsibly, as this was the "norm" at the time when there was no proper parking control among service providers.
This was in addition to the persistent market conditions which resulted in price wars between competitors.
– Benjamin Oh, co-founder of SG Bike
Regardless of these challenges, SG Bike continued its geostation technology and believed this will help "make a (positive) difference in the industry".
Fortunately, there were users and stakeholders who appreciated their efforts. They realized that the technology is also helping users better locate bikes.
Over time, users learned how to use their technology and services, and appreciated the convenience of a more organized bike-sharing service.
LTA later also implemented the QR code parking system, in which users have to end journeys in designated parking spaces and scan the corresponding QR code, otherwise there is a risk that they will be banned and / or charged with an additional fee.
This implementation has gone a long way in alleviating the problem of bikes parked indiscriminately.
The acquisition of Mobike valued at S $ 2.54 million
From 200 bikes at launch, SG Bike's fleet size increased to 3,000 bikes in 2018 after being officially licensed by LTA.
After acquiring the Mobike license for S $ 2.54 million, the size of the fleet gradually increased to 25,000 bicycles in 2019.
Photo credit: Mobike
Given Mobike's plans to adapt its international strategies, SG Bike and Mobike felt that the best way to secure the future of the 25,000 existing bikes and ensure a sufficiently adequate bike sharing program in Singapore was to to acquire the license for 25,000 bicycles.
We have always considered Mobike to be the gold standard for bike sharing around the world. Growing to a fleet size of 25,000 also meant that we had to meet the standards and do even better.
– Benjamin Oh, co-founder of SG Bike
As the fleet size increases, SG Bike continues to strive to connect even more people to their destinations in a safe, affordable and convenient way.
In addition to learning from Mobike's best practices, SG Bike works consistently to improve its services, taking into account new changes in staffing and logistical constraints in order to take on a larger fleet.
"We are grateful for the trust Mobike has in SG Bike to promote the bike-sharing culture and industry, and we will strive for the country's progress towards a car-lite society," said Benjamin.
Adapt and adapt to COVID-19
During this COVID-19 period, SG Bike saw an increase in bike usage after the estimated doubling of new users.
Due to the travel restrictions for COVID-19 overseas and the agreement to work from home, we've seen an overall increase in the use of our services.
Some possible reasons are bicycles with natural social distancing features, as well as increased use for daily commuting, recreational use, and others such as the delivery of groceries.
– Benjamin Oh, co-founder of SG Bike
However, the pandemic also brought some drawbacks to their business.
Some of the problems were mainly operational and personnel restrictions, such as the lockdown and the current job restrictions, which have affected the operational and logistics work on the bikes.
SG Bike has adapted to the pandemic and introduced new features to ensure that the bikes are cleaned and cleaned before each use.
"We also created digital infographics to advise our users to clean the key touch points on our bikes before and after use," said Benjamin.
"Despite the challenges, our teams do our best to make sure our bikes are in the best condition to serve our customers."
Bridging the Gap on the Last Mile in Business Areas Next
Photo credit: SG Bike
Commenting on the bike-sharing landscape in Singapore, Benjamin said it has changed significantly – "from an unregulated area where it is" okay "to park" anywhere "to one where LTA licenses for bikes -Sharing operator exhibiting. "
While some bike sharing players like ofo and oBike have seen a decline, Benjamin believes SG Bike's approach has always been different since it started.
They began with a desire to serve the nation and worked closely with relevant agencies such as the LTA, city councils, and the National Parks Board to ensure their business goals were aligned with the traffic design agenda.
We started with a small fleet size in order to maintain financial caution while ensuring enough bikes for a small area of use. We continue to receive feedback and work closely with users and relevant stakeholders to understand and improve our services.
This has allowed us to allocate resources more efficiently, which has enabled us to be better able to gradually expand to cope with a larger size of the bike fleet.
– Benjamin Oh, co-founder of SG Bike
Over the next several years, SG Bike aims to achieve a fleet of 100,000 bikes to better serve the nation as it evolves into an Autolite nation by 2040.
In addition to the fleet expansion, SG Bike will continuously investigate how new services, features and mobility devices can be introduced to shape and ensure an active mobility lifestyle in Singapore.
Work is also being done to secure partnerships with more corporate partners, such as existing ones with JTC and others, to encourage cycling and fill the gaps in the last mile business district over the next few years.
Benjamin is also excited that the government is expanding the cycling infrastructure in Singapore with more and more yellow boxes and bike racks.
This is in line with the government's plan to expand Singapore's cycle path network by 2023, which will greatly benefit the bike rental industry.
"We're excited to see the industry grow and look forward to working together to promote bicycle sharing as a viable form of transportation for Singapore," said Benjamin.
“The era of micromobility has only just begun and is beginning to grow. We are pleased that our services are continuously changing and becoming a larger part of a sustainable transport choice and lifestyle. "
Selected image source: SG Bike
