Skip to main content

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.

Related Content

  • Smart mobility seminar focuses on role of SMEs in ITS
    July 17, 2013
    The INTRASME Smart Mobility Market Opportunity Workshop in Turin, Italy on 25 September will see successful SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) share their insights into emerging opportunities in intelligent transport systems (ITS). The workshop will hear from leading policy makers in ITS, research on future trends in the transport industry and experts in funding opportunities. The Smart Mobility Market Opportunity workshop will appeal to policy makers, researchers and SMEs that are keen to understand
  • Smartcycle discriminates between cycles and vehicles, aids cycle safety
    February 27, 2014
    The SmartCycle software upgrade to the entire Vantage family discriminately detects bicycles anywhere in a VIDS’ field of view while simultaneously providing “regular” detection of all other vehicles in the same unit. The separate bike only detection output enables enhanced safety for cyclists and signalised intersection efficiency - longer passage times are granted only when a bike is detected.
  • ITS Summit 2016, Brisbane: Connected Autonomy in Smart Cities
    March 23, 2016
    Hosted by ITS Australia in partnership with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, the ITS Summit on Connected Autonomy in Smart Cities takes place on 23-24 May at the Queensland University of Technology. The growing international focus on smart cities where transport, utilities and healthcare communicate with each other to allow coordination and reduce waste, is a key driver for the provision of intelligent infrastructure across the road network. Such initiatives are being actively pursu
  • Hurricane preparedness and crash reduction projects among inaugural NOCoE award winners
    November 30, 2018
    A project to avert transport chaos in hurricane season and a programme which led to a huge reduction in road crashes were among the big winners in a new US awards scheme. The US National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE)’s inaugural Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Awards were open to cities, counties, metropolitan or rural planning organisations, state departments of transportation (DoTs) and private companies.