Onzo bikes have not been quashed by Lime e-scooters - they've evolved, company says

Tuesday, 8 January 2019

Onzos are famed for being left in hard-to-reach places.

If Aucklanders and Wellingtonians have noted a dearth of Onzo bikes around their cities over the festive season, they've not been imagining things.

While there have been a smattering of the pay-to-ride bikes about – just six in downtown Auckland on Tuesday morning, according to the app – Lime e-scooters have dominated the streets of late.

So, has competition with the Californian newcomer pushed Onzo out of the market? 'Nah, it hasn't,' Onzo's customer service representative Jamie Li said.

Onzo had instead taken advantage of the Christmas and New Year period to reel in its 'generation one' bikes and get 'generation two' ready for dispatch, he said.

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'We collected the bikes over the holidays because we thought not that many people would be around to use them, anyway.'

Onzo's West Auckland depot was packed with hundreds of the original black model along with the new and improved yellow bikes.

The old bikes had been serviced and Li said staff would be dropping them off around the cities late on Tuesday night, ready for Wednesday's riders.

The yellow bikes were larger and 'better quality', he said. They would be joining the 'generation one' bikes on Thursday and Friday.

There were currently 400 yellow bikes ready for dispatch in Auckland and more than 1000 more were due to arrive next month. Wellington would see slightly smaller numbers.

Onzo decided on the upgrade due to customer feedback and the need for tougher, safer bikes, Li said.

'People had been complaining about the spokes and locks being too easy to break … lighting was an issue for riding at night, too, and for taller people the size was a bit awkward.'

As well as being larger, each new bike has a solar powered rear light and pedal-powered front light, and metal mudguards.

The old bikes only had a reflective rear light and a battery-operated front light prone to running out of juice.

'We'll keep putting the old ones out to the point they're unrepairable, so they'll eventually be totally replaced by generation two,' said Li.

Li said he didn't see Lime e-scooters, which launched in October, as 'really direct competition' for Onzo bikes, mainly due to the dramatic price difference.

Limes cost $18 an hour to ride, while it's only $1 per hour to ride an Onzo - whether you're on the new or old bike.

'Limes are more for if you want to have some fun scooting around for a short time, while Onzos have more regular riders – for longer times, like commuting,' Li said.

Onzo had been considering launching e-scooters before Lime appeared on the scene, and hadn't ruled the possibility out yet.

There were currently about 1000 yellow e-scooters at the depot. They're not quite what Onzo had hoped for, however, so whether or not those scooters will ever hit the streets is 'still being discussed', Li said.

'We don't want our customers to get their hopes up.'