( CULTURAL BRIEFING N^O 02 )

What Ofo and Mobike got wrong when they launched in Singapore

A microcosm of China and Singapore

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            When I returned to Shanghai for a second work stint in 2017, I was awestruck by the development of two things — the complete switch to digital payments since I last worked there in 2013, and shared bicycles.

            China moves fast. That is no secret. But while digital payments was a godsend, the sheer number of freewheeling startup-run shared bicycles clogging China’s sidewalks was not.

            And China’s sidewalks are wide. Easily triple or quadruple the width of Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s. It also takes an army of minimal wage labourers to collect, redistribute, and repair the bicycles every night.

            In early 2017, Singapore’s policymakers decided to take the shortcut and allow Ofo and Mobike, the forerunners in the shared bicycle race back then, to launch in the country. Before that, our island nation had been studying docked systems similar to Seoul and Taipei — a far more orderly solution in keeping with Singapore’s urban design.

            It does not take much to realise that we have fundamental infrastructural and structural issues that cannot fully support this mode of last-mile transportation in Singapore. Besides our much narrower pedestrian pavements, labour is also expensive. Who was going to handle the logistics of redistributing the bicycles every night?

            That is why, there were a number of reactive policies following the launch — designated parking spots that had to be demarcated on the grass lawn next to our tiny pavements, scanning of QR codes to prevent indiscriminate parking at non-designated areas, etc.

            Both companies bowed out of the Singapore market in early 2019 when they could not comply with new regulations. New shared bicycle startups have since taken their place, but it is a reminder that acumen, foresight, and policy are important to the feasibility of businesses.

            If you ask me, they could have asked any auntie or uncle who had been to China in 2017 whether it was a good idea. The mistake wasn’t the bicycles — it was assuming Singapore shared China’s infrastructure and labour dynamics.

Notes from Ben:
This Cultural Briefing was first observed in Feb 2017, and written in Nov 2025. Slight revisions were made in Feb 2026.

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