The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has seized over 250 bicycles belonging to bike-sharing platform oBike, according to a report by The Star.

The bikes were seized because they were causing obstruction. “Another reason why the bikes were seized is because this is an unlicensed business as we did not receive any application from oBike,” mayor Datuk Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain told the daily. “We are in support of this idea as it is another mode of public transportation and will benefit pedestrians in the city, but it has to be properly regulated.

Mohd Azizi added the service is an illegal operation in Petaling Jaya, and hoped that oBike would come forward and apply to operate its bicycle sharing platform service. “Imagine if we do not monitor or regulate it and another bicycle sharing operator decides to start its business here as well, then things will get out of hand,” he said.

oBike marketing manager Elaine Chan said that it was already aware of the seizure and were working with MBPJ to solve the issue. “We are already in talks with them on how we can work together and I believe this is just a misunderstanding. For Subang, we put in a proposal, presented our idea and then received a letter of approval to operate,” she said, adding that the procedures were different for other local authorities.

In June, the bike-sharing platform was introduced for the Subang Jaya KTM station, where 15 bicycles were made available for the station at launch.

To make use of oBike’s service, one just needs to download the oBike mobile app for the appropriate mobile platform, which will enable the locating and reserving of the nearest available oBike. After reservation, the user will be prompted on the time and distance to the bicycle reserved. To unlock the bicycle, a user will need to scan the QR code located on the bicycle with the app.

Ride charges are RM1 per 15 minutes, and payment is via deduction of an amount pre-purchased via credit or debit card upon sign-up. Once the user arrived at his or her destination, the bicycle can be parked at any designated bicycle parking area, and oBike’s on-ground team will retrieve the bicycles for redistribution.