Rental bikes crowd China’s cities as start-ups race to attract more users

Visitors ride bicycles from the bike-sharing company Mobile in Beijing on March 22, 2017. Andy Wong / AP Photo

A man uses the bike-sharing app on his smartphone to unlock a bicycle from the bike-sharing company Ofo, on a pavement in Beijing on March 16, 2016. Andy Wong / AP Photo

BEIJING // The shiny bicycles in bright orange, yellow or blue are everywhere in China’s most prosperous cities – even in places they probably shouldn’t be.

The two-wheelers are unlocked and tracked using smartphone apps and can be rented for as little as US$0.07 (Dh0.25) for half an hour. They are the latest symbol of heavy spending by venture capital firms in China’s internet sector, where start-ups are racing to attract more users, seemingly regardless of the cost.

Around 2.2 million bicycles have been deployed in China by companies that include Ofo, Mobike and Bluegogo, and are most frequently used in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, according to internet analyst Xue Yu at IDC China.

In their rivalry to be the market leader in bike-sharing, the companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars and are offering discounts and free rides to attract more users. It’s unclear if the business model is sustainable or how it might change if a winner emerges.

China was long known as the “bicycle kingdom,” but that moniker has become outdated as more and more Chinese buy cars amid the country’s economic boom. China overtook the United States in 2009 as the world’s biggest auto market, but authorities have encouraged bicycle use to reduce pollution and congestion.

Shared bicycles are now ubiquitous in Beijing, where Mr Xue estimates more than 200,000 have been deployed.

They’re pedalled on the roads by commuters getting from subway stops to their workplaces, homes or other destinations. On weekends, tourists use them to wander along traditional alleyways in the city’s historic centre, near the Forbidden City.

But as more and more bikes hit the streets, they add to the urban chaos, with riders leaving them more or less anywhere.

Rush-hour users park them in public-bus lanes, leaving them for street attendants to pick up and move aside. Rows of bikes, some of them toppled, crowd the sidewalks, leaving pedestrians little space to walk.

Vandalism, meanwhile, has become common, and repairs can be costly.

* Associated Press