Another
dockless bike-sharing service - this time backed by Chinese
electronics firm Xiaomi - is expected to make its debut by the end
of the year in what is becoming an increasingly crowded market.
Baicycle will
be the sixth operator - following ofo, MoBike, oBike, SG Bike and
GBikes - to provide Singaporeans with two-wheelers which can be
rented from and returned to any parking spot using a mobile
app.
The name is a
play on the Chinese word "bai", meaning white - the colour of its
bicycles.
Baicycle,
available in China and Japan, will be brought to Singapore by
Xiaobai Technology, a local company started by Mr Terence Tan, who
also runs Eco Biz International, a decade-old Singapore firm
specialising in mobility devices.
But with at
least 30,000 shared bicycles already in the market, it may be an
uphill ride to gain a market share, said observers.
Asked about
this, Mr Tan said its business model is different as Baicycle will
offer shared electric bicycles and e-scooters, on top of regular
bikes. "Because of the hot weather and ageing population, we want
more products to serve customers," he told The Straits Times.
Mr Tan, 58,
said it will roll out 2,000 conventional bicycles when the service
is launched. Next year, Mr Tan targets to have a combined 10,000
e-bikes and e-scooters available to riders, and he said their exact
numbers will depend on demand from users.
He added that
the firm has 200 regular bicycles here already, which it is using
to test out its geo-fencing technology. The technology creates a
virtual boundary that sends out an alert when a bike enters or
leaves an area and is meant to end indiscriminate parking.
It was
announced last week that the five other bike-sharing firms have
signed an agreement with the authorities to use similar technology
by the end of this year.
Mr Tan
declined to reveal how Baicycle's e-bikes or e-scooters, which are
battery-powered, will be charged in between rentals, or how much
rentals will cost.
But Chinese
business technology website TMTpost quoted Baicycle co-founder He
Xiangming in January as saying that the service will work with
quick-charging points and battery replacement centres set up at
convenience stores.
National
University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der-Horng
questions if the bike-sharing market is sustainable.
Dr Lee said
bike-sharing aims to tackle the first-and last-mile commute but
this is not a major issue in Singapore because of public transport
and covered walkways in Housing Board towns, which 80 per cent of
the population reside in. Asked about Baicycle, he said: "It sounds
very attractive but whether this can translate into a positive user
experience, we will need to observe."
