VBikes Suspends Operations in Taiwan|VBikes宣布暫停在台業務 用戶可聯繫退款

American dockless bike sharing system VBikes removed Taiwan from its app on Apr. 15 without any warning. On Apr. 17, VBikes said on Facebook it has decided to suspend operations in Taiwan. Users can apply for refunds through email.


Only these VBikes left.

There are still employees working at American dockless bike sharing system VBikes' operations center in Yilan County. On Apr. 15, the company removed the bicycle usage function for Taiwan from its app. On Apr. 17, it said on Facebook that it has decided to suspend operations in Taiwan. Users with credit can apply for refunds via email.

We were unable to achieve a breakthrough with the government due to too many problems with regulations and usage.

VBikes entered Taiwan in August 2016. It chose Yilan County as its first base, as it believed there were many tourism opportunities. VBikes was a dockless bike sharing system, and users could unlock bikes through the company's app. The biggest difference between VBikes and competitors YouBike and oBike was that it used GPS to find places where bikes could be returned. The company cited a lack of regulations for bike sharing systems as one of the reasons why it decided to exit Taiwan. The Yilan County Government said at present the only problems to emerge with bike sharing systems have to do with parking.

From what I could see, people were leaving the bikes all over the place. They left them in flowerbeds, on curbs, in front of stores.

Sometimes while we're out walking, we see bikes parked on the curb. It's very unsightly.

The company had 160 bikes in Yilan and 100 in Kaohsiung. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications says the company did not contact it regarding relevant legislation or to seek a meeting. It adds it does not have a preset position on ride-sharing platforms. However, if it finds that ride-sharing platforms are jeopardizing public rights and interests, like Uber did, the central government will deal with them.