Ofo ‘scales back’ bike sharing operations in US

Chinese bike sharing company Ofo is scaling back its US operations and has laid off employees from multiple departments. The move, according to a report by Quartz, will allow the company to refocus on markets in a bid to become profitable. The start-up plans to continue operating in US cities such as Seattle, San Diego and New York. According to Quartz, the company is also leaving Australia and Israel and reducing operations in the UK. The company operates yellow bicycles which riders can rent thro
July 24, 2018 Read time: 1 min
Chinese bike sharing company Ofo is scaling back its US operations and has laid off employees from multiple departments. The move, according to a report by %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Quartz false https://qz.com/1331368/bike-sharing-company-ofo-is-dramatically-scaling-back-in-north-america/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Issue:%202018-07-20%20Smart%20Cities%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:16284%5D&amp;utm_term=Smart%20Cities%20Dive false false%>, will allow the company to refocus on markets in a bid to become profitable.


The start-up plans to continue operating in US cities such as Seattle, San Diego and New York.

According to Quartz, the company is also leaving Australia and Israel and reducing operations in the UK.

The company operates yellow bicycles which riders can rent through a mobile app for around £1 per minute or one hour ride, depending on the city.

Ofo was founded in 2014 by students at Beijing’s Peking University and entered the US last year with the intention of offering a transportation option that could cover first- or last-mile trips.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Nauto launches solution to eliminate distracted driving
    June 18, 2018
    Transportation company Nauto has launched its Prevent solution to help eliminate distracted driving by alerting motorists when their eyes have strayed off the road for too long. The company hopes to reduce accidents and collisions - before the large-scale arrival of autonomous vehicles. A report by TechCrunch says the device will send a voice notification if motorists are distracted for more than five seconds and are driving at 60mph. An alarm will follow if the user's attention has not returned to drivi
    Read More
  • Bounce back with Berry’s spring steel buffer
    March 21, 2018
    Oops! Another small knock to your car in the car park. But thanks to the new spring steel buffer from Berry, it is the barrier that yields this time and not your vehicle’s bodywork. A key feature of the buffer is its deflection – typically around 300mm, according to Berry, part of the Hill & Smith group. This means that impact forces are absorbed by the buffers rather than transmitted directly to the mounting bolts or towards deformation of the railing system. They usually require one or two 20mm bolts.
    Read More
  • USDOT offers resources to advance deployment of connected vehicles
    May 27, 2016
    A nationwide network of connected vehicles and infrastructure is nearly here. Connected vehicles will be on our roads before the end of the decade. But there's still work to be done to ensure successful deployment and integration of the technology. In June, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is partnering with ITS America to host an Accelerating Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Deployment Day during ITS America 2016 in San Jose. The free daylong workshop will highlight the USDOT's ITS p
    Read More
  • Green Center does away with the parking ticket
    March 19, 2018
    Green Center’s latest solution has replaced the parking ticket with a licence plate number, all done by extending the GPP LPR camera system. The GPP PGS2 parking guidance system is used for guiding drivers when seeking vacant parking spaces in high-capacity areas, such as shopping centres, according to the Czech company. Payment is processed by an automatic pay station by simply entering the licence plate number. With no need for identification of or by the parking ticket, the process is speeded up for
    Read More

Highlighted Content