Macau | DSAT: Bike sharing apps are “currently illegal” in Macau

Macau (MNA) – DSAT’s response was provided after the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) confirmed to us that it had removed nine bikes belonging to Hong Kong bike sharing service Gobee.bike.

IACM further told MNA it removed the bikes after a citizen complained they were blocking public lanes.

Although the municipal department – soon to become Municipal Institute – didn’t specify when the removal took place, MNA is aware some of the bikes were present near the Seac Pai Van area in the morning of October 22, having disappeared in the afternoon.

Gobee Bike told MNA on November 1 that the group had some bikes in Macau for ‘on-ground IT testing’ but that it hasn’t ‘officially started running business’ on the city yet.

According to the department, this was the only case of removal of bikes belonging to app sharing services in Macau this year so far.

Gobee.bike – the first Hong Kong bike sharing company – was launched in April and allows residents in the neighbouring SAR to rent more than 400 smart bikes in the New Territories by scanning a QR code with their mobile phones.

According to Forbes, Gobee.bike managed to raise US$9 million in a Series A investment that had the Alibaba Entrepreneurship Fund as one of its backers.

In Hong Kong, residents can use the service after making a HK$399 deposit, refundable upon deletion of the account, with a bike rental fare of HK$5 for 30 minutes .