This was posted 6 years 10 months ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Unlimited Free Trips in June, July, Aug in Melbourne with oBike (Dockless Bicycle Sharing)

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Unlimited Free Trips in June, July, Aug in Melbourne with oBike (Dockless Bicycle Sharing)
Go to Deal
neil on 26/06/2017 - 16:50 facebook.com (1258 clicks)
Last edited 19/08/2017 - 00:41 by 1 other user

oBike, a dockless bicycle share system utilising an app, is offering free rides for the rest of the month of June.

  • You must put a $69 deposit to use their service (so you don't run off with the bike). You will get $3 in credit back. This deposit is refundable. (To get a refund for your deposit, which usually take 1-30 working days. Please go to "My wallet",and click the link of "refund deposit").
  • Normal pricing is $1.99/30 minutes and it includes a helmet & a self locking lock.
  • Locate the bikes using the app.
  • You should bring the bike back to a designated public bike parking area or bike parking coil. You get rewarded or points deducted by parking in the right place/wrong place and other things. If you get low enough, they will start charging you more. See points chart
  • The bikes have no gears so probably don't want to be doing too many hills.

There are loads of them. 1000s spotted before rollout on Reddit, Pic.

The app only shows the immediate area around the pin but here are a few sample areas: Central CBD - East CBD - Carlton, Fitzroy - St. Kilda

Booking Screen

Help & FAQ

oBike is a Singaporean company and is quite popular there as well as in Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand. The Age: When it comes to shared cycling, yellow is the new blue. They should be rolling out to Sydney and other cities soon.

iOS - Android

Update: Seems the free trips are still on. July and August

Travel Bicycle Bike Share

Related Stores

oBike Australia
oBike Australia

closed Comments

  • matt4711 on 26/06/2017 - 17:03
    +14

    $2/30 mins seems rather pricey given that trams in the CBD are free anyway.

    • neil on 26/06/2017 - 17:09
      +5

      No point of using it in the CBD as you say but outside of CBD is more useful. For example, RMIT or Melb Uni students commuting would find it probably the most useful.

      Melbourne Bikeshare is $3 per 30 minutes so cheaper comparatively.

      • matt4711 on 26/06/2017 - 17:18
        +4

        Students with concession cards can get a 2 hour tram/train fare for $2. So to me the uses/concerns for this kind of service are:

        • Have to go outside of the CBD

        • My return trip has to be more than 2 hours after my initial trip otherwise a 2 hour public transport ticket (even without concession prices) would be the same price or cheaper

        • Could be that where I'm going there is no bike for my return trip so I would have to take public transport anyway (so it is a bit risky I guess?)

        • After 6pm it is probably always smarter to take public transport as the ticket is valid for the rest of the day and it can be quite dangerous to ride a bike at night

        • [Deactivated] on 26/06/2017 - 17:38
          +2

          trams are handy going one end of the street to the other, but going diagonal, they're a PITA & slow.

          it's not very dangerous riding at night (do these bikes have lights?). There's a decent bike lane network.

      • m1nh on 26/06/2017 - 17:39
        +2

        My understanding is Melbourne Bikeshare is $3 per day with unlimited number of 30 minutes trip. The catch is you need to dock the bike at the racks.

  • placard on 26/06/2017 - 17:04

    How do you return the helmets? Are they clean or used by someone before you with hair infested with nits?

    • neil on 26/06/2017 - 17:07
      +2

      Helmets are attached to the lock. Not sure about nit issue but I would have thought it's about the same risk as sitting on a tram, train or bus.

    • lyl-Lychee on 26/06/2017 - 17:45
      +2

      I thought the same. Would wear a thin beanie underneath.

  • Snoovey on 26/06/2017 - 17:11
    +3

    Can you keep the bike for $69 ?

    • neil on 26/06/2017 - 17:14
      +5

      Probably not a good idea given they have your phone number + a GPS attached to the bike.

      • silverrat23 on 26/06/2017 - 17:34
        +4

        your phone number

        Ha, good thing I kept all those free Optus sims from 7-Elev…

        GPS attached to the bike

        …oh, never mind.

        • serpserpserp on 26/06/2017 - 19:48

          Didn't you buy a cheap dremel/drill in the Bunnings/Masters sales to just pop that GPS in the eye?

      • kahn on 26/06/2017 - 19:47

        a GPS attached to the bike

        If the GPS can be removed or its power disabled, then this becomes an offer of a crappy bike and pre-loved helmet for $69.

        • [Deactivated] on 26/06/2017 - 22:53
          +7

          Clean criminal record sold separately.

  • mrhorse on 26/06/2017 - 17:32
    +4

    When more competitors come into this game, price will be cheaper and cheaper. My experience is that in Shanghai, China, sharing bikes are as cheap as A$0.3 per 30 min and the deposit requirement is almost the same (A$60).

    • andysa on 26/06/2017 - 22:41
      +3

      Shanghai population 24 million…. I think they might get a few more riders to make up for the cheap fare.

    • bluechan on 27/06/2017 - 11:45
      +2

      Actually from what I've seen the shared bike schemes in China are becoming a bit of a problem. As in there are too many of them and they are clogging up footpaths.

  • Thatbargainhunter on 26/06/2017 - 17:41
    +1

    Did not take long for Mobike / Ofo to start up here.

    I still can't believe how quick this took over China.

    • joelmuzz on 27/06/2017 - 08:48

      The older rack bikes there are literally rusting in their racks. The utility of being able to park the bike anywhere is so much better.

  • cheepwun on 26/06/2017 - 17:45
    +9

    Hello. I want to be tracked like the little State Drone I am.
    And pay for the privilege.

    • I want to place a deposit for a bike that's higher than the cost of a new bike from Target seen the other day on these pages. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/314341 (let alone countless second-hand bikes).
    • I want to settle for no gears, to make my trips particularly delightful - because that's how we roll in 2017.
    • I want to be punished if I'm bad & rewarded if I use State-endorsed profiling spyware networks like Facebook.

    I can't wait to jump on my primitive bike.

    I would also rather do this all than buy myself a bike & do as I please. I anticipate great pleasure when problems with billing and accounts inevitably pop up when being billed electronically (problems that crop up by chance, I'm sure…no profit motivations at all from the company involved). I also enjoy the fact that there are only 4 days left in June. Like all great offers like this, they don't last long. So I should hurry and place my deposit immediately.

    • anthem29 on 26/06/2017 - 17:52
      +23

      any bargains on tinfoil for this guy? I think his hat might be leaking.

      • cheepwun on 26/06/2017 - 17:53
        -1

        Attack the poster directly when you can't attack the message. Works every time. Can't refute anything I've said. Oh yes, the ol' tinfoil hat line. So original.

        • anthem29 on 26/06/2017 - 22:43
          +2

          We'll all be compost sooner or later. Stop taking life so seriously.

        • cheepwun on 27/06/2017 - 13:11
          -2

          We'll all be compost sooner or later. Stop taking life so seriously.

          Get some new jokes. Say something worthwhile.

    • BartholemewH on 26/06/2017 - 18:42
      +2

      Reading between the lines, you're saying this isn't much of a deal vs buying a cheap bike. I agree. Unless your in the habit of taking one way bike trips.

    • MessyG on 26/06/2017 - 19:51
      +3

      C'mon people don't downvote this post, it is Ozbargain gold. It should be enshrined.

    • y on 27/06/2017 - 14:03
      +3

      If you really think this and aren't just trolling, I think you suffer from paranoid delusions.

      How do you expect this kind of service to operate without GPS tracking?

      The information they collect is minimal, they don't even ask for an email address. The use of GPS tracking in this case is totally reasonable and necessary for the company to operate.

      Of course you could buy a cheap bike for the price of the (refundable) deposit, but you're completely ignoring the massive convenience aspect.

      Many people travel into the CBD by means other than bike, but would find it handy to be able to borrow a bike temporarily while there, without having to bring their own bike into the CBD. Many people also don't want the hassle of owning, maintaining, securing and storing a bike if they only need one very occasionally. Lots of people live in small apartments or sharehouses where there's no convenient place to put a bike.

      It also gives you the flexibility to take a bike for a one-way trip somewhere and be free to travel onwards by other means.

      I commute into the CBD by bike but might still use this sometimes as my bike is expensive and it's hard to find good places to lock it up, and I don't usually carry the heavy bike lock with me when commuting to work.

      This is just a company trying to earn a profit while providing a service which I think will be convenient and have a positive impact overall.

  • hellno on 26/06/2017 - 17:49

    Wow I hadn't heard of this before.
    Is this really working? It's hard to imagine it working in Australia. Won't people just pick them up and steal them (just to be dicks) or trash them.

    • Thatbargainhunter on 26/06/2017 - 17:52
      +4

      https://youtu.be/kdsb2wwn-7g

      This is what happened in Shenzhen with them.

      • neil on 26/06/2017 - 18:31

        Interesting video. I guess the big downside would be if CBD footpaths which can already get quite cluttered with signs, motorbike etc, start getting cluttered with share bikes then council will have no choice but allocate parking areas for bikes. The great part of biking in the city is being able to park the bike anywhere where you can lock it up to something (not blocking footpaths).

      • poor_me on 26/06/2017 - 18:36

        With the video title I expected the streets to be cluttered with them. It was surprisingly neat and well organised.

      • voter1 on 26/06/2017 - 18:58

        The problem with these bike systems is that even in a flat city - there is always more demand for bikes to go from A to B than B to A - so eventually all the bikes end up at certain locations that nobody wants to use.

        I think its the #1 problem facing the government sanctioned melbourne bikeshare program. You see some bike parks are full and some are empty -

        • Thatbargainhunter on 26/06/2017 - 19:09
          +2

          Mobike in China, now relocates the bikes when this happens. Given that they have GPS, they can easily tell when this starts to happen. In Shanghai, you don't need to walk more than a few metres to actually get one.

      • niknah on 27/06/2017 - 12:49

        This is a rare occurance. Most of the time, they're parked neatly. Some of the bike companies have a bounty for people to report lost bikes.

    • cycleri3 on 26/06/2017 - 19:02
      +1

      I have seen there already all over Melbourne fallen flat on the ground or leaning against planters etc. Not the neatest. I prefer the blue bikes with their docking stations.

      • jjjaar on 27/06/2017 - 02:16

        And when the docking station is full and you have to take it another 250m away from your destination, they are no longer convenient.

        • cycleri3 on 27/06/2017 - 08:49

          Having bikes lying around on a busy footpath is not convenient for pedestrians either.

  • Bren20 on 26/06/2017 - 17:51
    +3

    does anyone know where i can park these? can i ride one out to the suburbs?

  • Lord Fart Bucket on 26/06/2017 - 17:52
    +1

    a self locking lock.

    Now i have seen it all.

  • FutureTech on 26/06/2017 - 18:22

    How's the GPS powered?

    • poor_me on 26/06/2017 - 18:37
      +1

      Solar, if the Singapore ones are anything to go by. $1/30mins there (exchange rate AU$1=SGD$1)

    • inherentchoice on 27/06/2017 - 16:19

      I would think they use the kinetic energy from pedaling.

      But how does the GPS connect to the internet to communicate it's location? Does it use the phone network and so they have sim cards inside the bikes?

  • Mike33 on 26/06/2017 - 18:56

    This kind of service is one of the best things I had experienced in China. It is perfect to connect the last km from public transport to your destination. Ridiculously convinient in huge cities where public transport is good.

    • jv on 26/06/2017 - 20:19
      -1

      This kind of service is one of the best things I had experienced in China.

      I'm guessing you didn't go out much there…

  • jv on 26/06/2017 - 19:28
    -1

    (Dockless Bicycle Sharing)

    typo ??

    • kahn on 26/06/2017 - 19:51

      It's dockless for your comfort.

      • jv on 26/06/2017 - 20:18
        -1

        TA will be disappointed then…

  • devilbabies on 26/06/2017 - 19:48

    http://imgur.com/a/g5mOW

  • ronnknee on 26/06/2017 - 20:38
    +3

    Love the first Facebook comment "June's nearly finished".

  • ialam99 on 26/06/2017 - 21:06

    Dupe

  • Hsinking on 26/06/2017 - 21:20
    +1

    Shared bikes, high speed trains(300kmh+) and mobile payment are three major advancements of China over other nations, I hope Oz can have them all soon.

  • ego22 on 26/06/2017 - 21:33

    …..freaking hippies. How many times a day do u need a Venti Soy Quadruple Shot Latte with No Foam, that you need unlimited bike use??

  • [Deactivated] on 27/06/2017 - 01:09
    +1

    Saw one in the yarra river the other day. Australia ain't no Singapore when it comes to vandalism.

  • joelmuzz on 27/06/2017 - 08:45

    This is China's MoBike, which is $0.20 am hour there so the price is a bit steep. Though I guess our vandalism situation is very different and they probably have to pay high insurance here.

    • [Deactivated] on 27/06/2017 - 11:37

      About insurance, it only takes a vandal with a screwdriver driver set to loosen a wheelnut or seat post. I wonder how often each bike gets serviced as 3 nights is often enough for a normal bike to lose it's seat or have it's wheel wrapped around a post.

  • neil on 03/07/2017 - 15:48

    Just checked the app and seems like they are still offering free rides.

  • sween64 on 05/08/2017 - 09:36

    Be aware. The $69 deposit was charged as an international transaction from HK and Coles MasterCard charged me $1.04 for it.

  • mattelinc on 06/08/2017 - 12:53

    Anyone got an invite code for me?

    Help me to help you.

    • neil on 06/08/2017 - 13:10

      The grey referral links box has links that will score you $10 worth of coupons. Given oBike is still free though, referrers don't actually receive any credit. Not sure how the $10 of coupons would work when the system is free either.

  • Normie on 17/08/2017 - 13:32

    Want more FREE rides in September?
    Ride oBike for at least 3 times within 16-20 August, and you'll win $50 worth of oBike vouchers.
    https://web.facebook.com/oBikeAU/photos/a.291385007975991.10…

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