The Land Transport Authority (LTA) today announced that the bicycle-sharing scheme, scheduled to be launched by the end of 2017 in the Singapore's Jurong Lake District, will be a "public-private partnership" between the Government and the scheme operator.
Earlier on Thursday, LTA announced that it will call a tender to appoint an operator to run the scheme. It believes the scheme will give users access to more than 1,000 bicycles and several docking stations throughout the district.
In an interview to Channel NewsAsia, an LTA spokesperson said all the capital expenditures like docking stations and bicycles, operating expenses maintenance costs will be taken care of by the appointed operator.
"This will incentivise the operator to be cost-efficient as well as well actively drive ridership through good service standards, smart pricing as well as innovative publicity efforts," said the spokesperson.
When asked about the payments for the grant, LTA said it will depend on the performance of the tender.
LTA further disclosed that it took into account overseas bicycle-sharing schemes before selecting the existing operating model.
"Similar bicycle-sharing schemes in Taipei, London and Hangzhou all receive financial support from the government as user revenue alone is insufficient to cover all the costs," said LTA.
