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

  • Aimsun merges all companies in the group into one name
    October 27, 2017
    Aimsun has announced that all companies in the group are no longer called TSS-Transport Simulation Systems are now consolidated into the Aimsun name. They also have a new UK office based at Aimsun Ltd, Waterhouse Square, 138 Holborn, London, EC1N 2SW.
  • Anniversary year for Traficon
    May 16, 2012
    Traficon’s appearance at this year’s ITS America Annual Meeting coincides with the company’s 20th birthday, and its booth will feature a wide range of video detection products and solutions. Among them will be the company’s Video Image Processor (VIP) that combines traffic flow monitoring and automatic incident detection functionality in one single board. The VIP-T module analyses images from analogue cameras while the VIP-IP can connect to a broad range of IP cameras, supporting both MPEG-4 and new H.264 v
  • Investor matching event at ITS World Congress
    July 1, 2014
    ITS America is providing an opportunity at this year's ITS World Congress for start-up ventures to shine on an international stage. Sponsored by Fontinalis Partners and Econolite Group, Transportation for Tomorrow: Investors and Inventors will bring together premier financial and strategic investment groups and young and dynamic companies and entrepreneurs that possess cutting-edge ideas in sustainability, safety, and mobility in transportation. Questions and completed business plan s should be submitte
  • Electronic horizons for Continental Automotive
    September 7, 2014
    Continental Automotive is highlighting its participation in the ITS sector at World Congress with demonstrations of its eHorizon and M2X (motion information to X provider) communication systems.