SINGAPORE (Aug 2): ISOTeam, the firm specialising in the maintenance and upgrading of public housing estates, has ventured into Singapore’s already-crowded space of bike-sharing with the likes of Mobike and oBike.
Launched this month, SG Bike will have an initial fleet of 1,000 bikes positioned at “virtual docking stations” at public housing estates, bus stops, MRT stations and parks. It is targeting a user base of 50,000 by mid-2018.
To mitigate the indiscriminate parking which is showing itself to be a big problem in the neat and tidy city-state, ISOTeam says SG Bike will work closely with the Town Councils and LTA to deploy a smart system that is expected to improve the bike riding experience for users.
Instead of physical docking stations, SG Bike’s virtual docking stations that taps on both GPS and geo station technology to ensure that cyclists are able to easily locate the bikes and return them to the appropriate areas.
To rent the bikes, users can download a mobile app on their smart devices and use QR codes to unlock the bikes. They can also unlock the bikes by tapping a prepaid contactless card such as an EZ-Link or NETS FlashPay card at the lock, which will also allow users such as the elderly, who are not tech savvy, to use the bikes.
Users have to return the bikes by parking them in designated areas, which are within a 5m to 20m grid of geo stations to complete their journey or face paying a fine.
The bikes are also installed with alarms which will sound a loud warning should there be attempts to vandalise or steal the bikes.
SG Bike has a paid-up capital of $1 million. ISOTeam will hold a majority 51% stake while partners Sean Tay and Andy Tay will each hold 27% and 22% respectively.
As at 12.43pm, shares in ISOTeam are down 1 cent at 37 cents.
