SINGAPORE, July 2 — Beleaguered bike-sharing operator oBike said yesterday it is working on a "solution to refund user deposits”, adding that it is also focused on meeting a July 4 deadline set by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to remove its fleet.

In a statement yesterday afternoon that was posted on its Facebook page, oBike said the refund process will be made known in due time "once…details are finalised”. It gave no further information.

This is the first time the company has addressed the issue of its users’ deposits directly, after it announced its sudden departure on Monday (June 25).

The issue of deposit refunds was the subject of its users’ ire — the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said on Thursday that it had received 772 complaints against oBike, a 28-fold spike from Monday when news first broke.

The bike operator also said that it is working with LTA "with an absolute focus” to remove its entire 14,000-strong fleet by July 4.

That deadline was set by the authorities on Thursday, after it met with oBike’s representatives.

The LTA said in a statement on Thursday: "Should there be unremoved oBike bicycles after this date, LTA will progressively remove these bicycles from public spaces.

"oBike or its liquidator will have to pay the relevant towing and storage fees in order to claim impounded bicycles from LTA,” it added.

oBike’s co-founder Edward Chen told TODAY on Tuesday that there was an "existing plan for the whole (liquidation) process” without elaborating when pressed on whether the company would offer refunds on the deposits.

Yesterday, oBike struck a conciliatory tone in its statement, apologising for "all the inconvenience caused to all parties”, and promising to resolve all outstanding issues "to ensure proper closure for stakeholders in Singapore”. — TODAY