Bangkok's shared bicycles have become a night-time craze, and City Hall says some riders are pushing their luck. On 11 November, Governor Chadchart Sittipunt and Deputy Governor Wisanu Subsompon said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is tightening enforcement on its Bike Sharing scheme: rule-breakers face fines first, repeat offenders will have their accounts banned, and anyone who damages a bike pays the actual repair bill.
The scheme is not being scrapped. The governor said it remains useful for the first and last stretch of a journey, such as getting from a BTS or MRT station to the office, and that the BMA would fix the problems rather than end it.
What riders are getting wrong
According to the BMA's own statement, the trigger was groups of teenagers riding at night, including people sitting in the front basket of a bike someone else is pedalling. Each bike is built for one person only, so carrying a passenger, on the back or in the basket, breaks the operators' conditions of use. The operator charges a fine for a breach, and a repeat breach gets the user account banned.
City officers are now being sent to the busiest riding spots, and the BMA says it is working with the Metropolitan Police to make sure cyclists follow traffic rules. The governor said the city still needs to agree with the police what happens to riders who keep ignoring warnings.
Don't take one home
The deputy governor said very few bikes go missing in Bangkok, and most that do were simply ridden home and left there instead of being returned to a designated parking point, which the system already fines. Photos shared online of share bikes spray-painted or hidden under covers prompted a sharper warning: every bike carries a chip and GPS tracker, and keeping or modifying one is against the law. Khaosod reported him saying the current fine for parking in the wrong place is 50 baht a time and that it will be raised, although no new amount has been announced.
Why it matters if you ride
The warning comes as use is surging. The BMA counted 171,492 trips in October, about 60 percent more than in September, much of it from evening rides around Rattanakosin, as MEM reported last week. If you use the scheme, ride alone, return the bike to an official parking point, and check your operator's app for its current fines before you set off.