MOBIKE users who park bikes at prohibited spots will be fined through the app, the shared bike company said yesterday.

This latest feature comes on top of one introduced in June which sends messages to users who try to park bikes in restricted “gray” areas. Those who break the rules will lose points and see a decline in their credit rating on the app. Repeat offenders risk being banned altogether.

The company said illegal parking rate has dropped by 30 percent in the last two months.

The new feature will initially cover seven spots in Pudong’s Lujiazui and near the National Exhibition and Convention Center.

Users will not be charged for a first offense, but after that they will be charged 5 yuan (70 US cents), the company said.

If a user ignores the warning which pops up in the app, the money will be deducted from their deposit right away, but there are win-win incentives for the user to have the ‘fine’ returned. If they take a Mobike from a prohibited parking area and return it to a recommended parking spot, the company will refund the deducted funds.

Zhu Qian, an executive of Mobike, said users will be charged because their illegal parking costs the company which has to eventually remove the illegally parked bikes.