MoBike, oBike, Ofo grind gears for Thais
The world’s big three bicycle-sharers slug it out for a slice of the local ‘smart’ bikes market, boosting consumer choice amid pressure for more bike lanes. By Suchit Leesa-Nguansuk
Thailand has become a new battlefield for bicycle-sharing services with the world’s three largest providers keen to offer their services here. All three — Singapore’s MoBike and oBike and China’s Ofo — are in talks with the government for approval to provide the service and are requesting more cycling lanes be put in place.
Joe Via, co-founder and chief technology officer for Mobike, the world’s first and largest smart bicycle operator, said Bangkok is part of the company’s overseas expansion. MoBike is available in 160 cities and is gunning for 200 by year-end.
Thailand is the second country the company has entered in Southeast Asia after Singapore.
The company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Advanced Info Service Plc to use the 900 megahertz Narrow Band IoT (NB -IoT) for the first time outside of China.
It is also testing the service at Kasetsart University and has partnered with Central Pattana Group (CPN) on a bicycle parking hub that will launch in September.
The commercial service will be available in November with thousands of bicycles available in a number of cities.
Users need to download the company’s app and scan the QR code to unlock the MoBike and deposit it in public parking areas.
In China users must pay a deposit of 299 yuan (1,506 baht) and a token sum of 0.5-1 yuan per ride, whereas in Thailand they get two months’ free service before being charged 10 baht for 30 minutes. The lower deposit of 99 baht can be paid by debit or credit card.
The company now boasts 100 million users and logs 25 million rides every day.
It also produces its own bikes and technology with 7 million smart bikes. To date, its users have ridden over 5.6 million kilometres.
The second bike-sharing player, Beijingbased Ofo, received Series E funding of US$700 million in July led by China’s e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba.
According to Samantha Tng, Ofo’s business development manager for Asia Pacific, the company has expanded its services in Asean to tap more of the region’s 600-millionstrong population, two-thirds of whom are under 20.
According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the number of middle-class households in Asean will grow from 40 million in 2010 to 80 million this year and 263 million by 2030. “The figures show there is huge potential for the sharing economy, which is estimated to grow to US$250 billion by 2020,” she said.
Ofo is station-less and convenient with a pricing structure adaptable to each market, she said. The company’s global operations are conducted in partnership with AXA, which provides insurance to its riders and bicycles.
One thing that sets it apart is its open platform, which can integrate with a full range of industry resources from manufacturers to users. For example, in the wealthy east Chinese city of Hangzhou, it integrated a station-free bikesharing system called “Qibei bikes” with the Ofo platform and users can now access the bikes via the Ofo app.
Ofo began testing the waters in Bangkok by deploying 6,000 bikes at campuses including Thammasat University. It said it will expand to other universities in the capital as well as in tourist cities like Phuket and Chiang Mai.
Users must first download the Ofo app then choose a bicycle within their vicinity before using a smart code delivered via SMS to verify and unlock it.
Ms Tng said the bike-sharing scene in Asean is promising but one of the biggest challenges is how to balance business growth with existing infrastructure.
“We are working closely with the government to ensure [the result is] mutually favourable to riders and operators,” she said.
Ofo is available in over 170 cities in seven countries with a fleet of more than 8 million bikes. The bike-sharing service sees over 25 million daily transactions, the company said.
It platform supports over 100 million global users. “Our goal is to be available in 200 cities in 20 countries, with 20 million bikes, by the end of this year,” said Ms Tng.
In the near future, bike-sharing services will be a central hub connecting riders to net-based resources via the Internet of Things (IoT), analysts predict.
Going beyond smartphones, bike-sharing has the potential to work with broader regional transit systems, where people use smart cards in conjunction with other IoT devices for more convenient transportation solutions. “This will be a key step in moving Thailand away from its reliance on cars,” Ms Tng said.
Meanwhile, global internet and technology firm oBike launched its first-and- last mile transportation service in Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Thailand is the first country in Asean outside its home base where Singapore-based oBike plans to expand as part of a broader plan to penetrate 10 countries.
Jidapa Juthathanyatip, general manager of oBike International (Thailand), said the company will work with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and other cities like Phuket, Chiang Mai and Pattaya to provide a 10,000-strong bike fleet.
“We believe bike-sharing is good for short trips, for example, those less than 30 minutes around campus, in residential areas or to community malls,” Ms Jidapa said.
Users can download the oBike mobile app and register with their phone number. Upon registration, they must pay a one-time, refundable deposit of 899 baht. This leaves them free to use the bikes at will by scanning their unique QR codes via the app.
To return their bike, users must park it at a designated bike-parking lot and lock it manually, upon which the app will immediately stop charging them. In Thailand the per-ride charge is 10 baht for every 15 minutes.