SINGAPORE - Local bike-sharing start-up oBike will be lodging a police report over a bicycle left in a canal, its general manager told The Straits Times on Thursday (May 4).

Pictures of the bike, spotted in a canal at Punggol on Wednesday (May 3) afternoon, were first posted by citizen journalism site Stomp on Thursday.

The contributor said he saw the bike at about 4pm.

Mr Elgin Ee, general manager of oBike Singapore, told ST that the company was aware of this matter as other users had raised it with them.

"We are currently investigating the matter and will be lodging a police report," he said.

oBike told ST that the case was isolated, and that the majority of oBike users are "responsible and good and flag to us when they see abuse".

Bike sharing is relatively new in Singapore, with three bike-sharing companies launching earlier this year - MoBike in March, ofo bike in February and oBike in January.

However, reports and sightings of vandalised bikes circulated on social media soon after the new practice was adopted.

Bike users have been said to take the bikes home instead of returning it to a fixed docking location for others to use.

Some bikes have been found vandalised, with pedals missing, or with the entire bike sprayed a new colour, and some have been discarded at indiscriminate areas.

oBike's general manager Mr Ee said oBike recently launched a credit scoring system to encourage positive riding behaviour.

Under the system, users with more credits will have access to incentives, while those with zero credits will be banned from using the service.

"While this is an isolated case, we would like to urge all oBike users to treat our bicycles with care just as they would with their own," said Mr Ee. "This is to ensure that all our users can continue to enjoy and benefit from a pleasant riding experience."