SINGAPORE: A cautious revival is underway in Singapore’s bike-sharing scene, as operators expand their fleet while working to regain public trust lost in the chaos of the industry’s early days.
On Jul 1, Chinese company HelloRide increased its fleet here from 15,000 to 20,000 bicycles. Local firm Anywheel, which has been gradually scaling up its presence since 2022, operates another 35,000 bicycles.
Singapore’s total bike-share fleet now stands at 55,000, up from 36,000 three years ago.
Both firms told CNA this expansion is more than just a numbers game. It is part of a broader vision to make bike-sharing a reliable, even habitual, part of daily transportation in Singapore.
“For HelloRide specifically, we want to grow beyond a utility – into a brand that Singaporeans associate with freedom, health and modern city living,” said its general manager Hayden Choo.
Anywheel founder Htay Aung added: “Our vision is to grow in Singapore in such a way that … when you go from point A to B, regardless of whether you use us, at least our name will come to your mind.”
These aspirations come with an awareness of past missteps. Singapore’s bike-sharing boom in 2018 saw the market flooded with more than 200,000 bikes operated by as many as seven different firms.
But the rapid growth in the absence of regulations resulted in public frustration over indiscriminate parking, damaged bicycles and abandoned bikes clogging paths.
Legislation was subsequently introduced to manage these problems, but this led to the closure of several operators, some of whom exited the market with debts owed to vendors, retrenched staff and without returning user deposits.
The sustainability of the industry was cast into question more recently, when SG Bike – once a key player – announced in March 2024 that it was exiting the market after nearly seven years.
Mr Htay said the bike-sharing industry is now in its “second run” – a correction period where companies have to tread carefully. “We have to be very careful to slowly gain back the confidence of Singapore users,” he said.
Mr Choo agreed, adding: “The other key learning is that trust – with users, with government – this takes time to build but is easily lost.”
SLOW, CALIBRATED EXPANSION
Both Anywheel and HelloRide are taking a more measured approach to growth, focusing on getting things right this time round.
Anywheel is currently holding back from expanding its fleet further, choosing instead to focus on replacing ageing bicycles to improve user experience. When the older fleet is fully replaced, the company will apply to expand its fleet, Mr Htay said.
HelloRide’s Mr Choo said one of the biggest lessons from the industry’s early days was that “scale without control is a recipe for collapse”.
“The early wave emphasised growth at all costs – we’ve learned instead to value sustainable unit economics, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.”
The company began operations in Singapore in 2022 with 1,000 bikes and has expanded in phases – reaching 10,000 in 2023, adding 5,000 more in October last year and another 5,000 this year.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA), which approves bike-share fleet expansions, told CNA that its decision to allow HelloRide’s latest increase was based on several factors, including the company’s track record in managing indiscriminate parking and its efforts to educate users on proper parking behaviour.
The authority said it also takes into account the overall bike-sharing fleet size in Singapore, demand for the services and the availability of parking infrastructure when reviewing expansion applications by bike-sharing companies.
“We will continue to closely monitor the supply and demand of the deployed fleets, while ensuring all operators continue to manage disamenities,” an LTA spokesperson said.
Whether the bike-sharing business is financially viable remains a challenge for operators. For example, while residential deployment…
