It's been a rocky road for the bike-sharing industry in Hong Kong. The first operator to launch in the city announced a few weeks ago that it would close due to losses and high maintenance costs. Joel Flynn reports from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong start-up successes aren't exactly unheard of, but Gobee.bike was supposed to be one of the jewels in the crown. A local bike sharing company designed to cater for a brand new market and backed by big supporters. But from almost the moment it launched in April last year, Gobee.bike encountered problems. Within days, several bikes had been found thrown into a river or otherwise vandalised, with brakes, lights and even handlebars missing. Ultimately the company failed to make any profit and this month packed up, blaming "enormous" maintenance costs for its failure.

JOEL FLYNN HONG KONG "Gobee.bike was one of about seven firms that tried to compete over the last year in that market with something like 25,000 cycles in total. Of those seven, barely any remain. Most of the bike shares that still exist in Hong Kong's new territories now belong to the mainland China's Ofo. But even these are frequently left still in places like here in Tai Wai during commuting hours, which many thought should be a peak period."

Raphael Cohen talked about the "huge potential" Hong Kong had for the bike sharing market. 15 months on, not only has Gobee.bike being forced to close, but many are wondering whether the market exists at all.

DR. BILLY MAK, A.P. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE & DECISION SCIENCES, HKBU "If most of the usage is coming during the holidays, that means during the weekday, no one is going to use the bike. And I don't think that is financially viable, to operate this kind of business. It's quite different, because in Hong Kong the road traffic is quite heavy, and then it's so difficult to accommodate a shared bike to ride on in the city, and then you can only use the countryside, and then that limited the profitability of the company."

Hong Kong has a real problem at the moment with the sharing economy and bike firms aren't the only victim. Just this month, AirBnB warned about the effects of tough new laws here on short-term rentals. Uber, meanwhile, has seen 28 of its drivers convicted and fined for illegal carriage. Hong Kong is clearly not the only part of the world to have these issues, but many say they are holding the city back.

DR. BILLY MAK, A.P. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE & DECISION SCIENCES, HKBU "The sum of the shared economy, you find that it's so difficult, ok, to have roots in Hong Kong is not because the idea is no good. It is because it may conflict with existing business. We are talking about old economy, new economy, actually they're delivering the same types of service. But they deliver in different ways."

Gobee.bike originally said the time had come to adopt a new paradigm for sustainable urban transport. If that is indeed true, it's still unclear whether, in Hong Kong at least, that new paradigm is bike sharing. Joel Flynn, CGTN, Hong Kong.