Thank Fucking God, oBike Is Apparently Leaving Melbourne For Good

We stuck them up trees. We fashioned them into sculptures. We literally threw them into the Yarra. And now, at long last, it seems that oBike might finally have gotten the hint, with reports that the controversial bike share service is fucking off out of Melbourne for good.

The news was reported by The Herald Sun and confirmed by the City of Melbourne, which tweeted on Tuesday that the Singapore-based company had “temporarily withdrawn from Melbourne”.

The company apparently did not offer an explanation for its decision to withdraw, although it may well relate to tough new regulations introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency last month that would have seen oBike fined $3000 every time it failed to remove bikes that were damaged, vandalised or creating a hazard.

The City of Melbourne tweeted that it was “disappointed” that so many bikes had been vandalised, adding that “we hope that in future if other share bike operators decide to come to Melbourne, the community will behave in a respectful way”.

I suspect they will continue to be disappointed.

We’re great supporters of bikes & cycling. @AustraliaObike have temporarily withdrawn from Melbourne.We’re working closely with them to remove the remaining oBikes.We recommend people stop using @AustraliaObike & have asked the company to switch off their booking facility. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Zbgj3CbfbA

— City of Melbourne (@cityofmelbourne) June 12, 2018

.@AustraliaObike has not told us why they are withdrawing, we’re disappointed that individuals vandalised the bikes. We hope that in future if other share bike operators decide to come to Melbourne, the community will behave in a respectful way. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/bR5gVkDj74

— City of Melbourne (@cityofmelbourne) June 12, 2018

This is a false flag retreat, the ultimate game for oBike is to throw people into the Yarra #StayWoke pic.twitter.com/okH7R98j3h

— Ipra (@ipra94) June 12, 2018

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Feature image via oBikes in unusual places/Facebook