Shared bikes near a subway station in Beijing. (Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily)
Local authorities ban moves to expand cycle fleets after parking chaos, traffic congestion and public safety concerns
China's bike-sharing craze is causing parking chaos, traffic congestion and is a safety hazard.
Bans on expanding cycle fleets in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Guangzhou, as well as eight other cities, have been wheeled out by local authorities.
In the capital alone, there are 2.35 million shared bikes run by 15 companies with stacked parking on pavements and at road crossings causing havoc for pedestrians.
"It is necessary that the authorities put the brakes on shared bikes," said Li Hao, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group in Beijing.
Earlier last month, the capital's transportation management authority prohibited an increase of shared bikes on its roads.
Another 12 cities followed suit, forcing the main players to consider expanding to untapped markets across the country, as well as abroad.
Still, many small bike-sharing companies will go to the wall, squeezed out by the big boys such as Mobike Technology Co, Bluegogo and Ofo Inc.
Mobike plans to improve its services and management structure in major cities.
"As competition in the bike-sharing market in first-tier cities becomes fierce, sophisticated, intelligent management and operations will be our focus," said Li Yuxian, vice-president of Mobike.
"We are aiming to improve users' experience and ease the urban traffic pressure," Li added.
Mobike has rolled out a highly-efficient and professional operational team in Beijing.
They dispatch bikes and handle parking black spots by using cloud computing and artificial intelligence, or AI, technology.
The company has spent more than 3 billion yuan ($458 million) on big data, internet of things and AI. It is also gearing up to increase its global expansion plans.
"Establishing more cooperative relationships with municipal governments all over the world will be our next move," Li said. "We aim to operate in 200 cities by the end of the year."
Mobike's wheel tracks can be found in 170 world cities, with the company owning seven million bikes, as well as having over 100 million customers.
Apart from China, the firm's cycles can be found in London, Manchester, Florence, Milan, Singapore and Bangkok.
For now, even profit has been put on hold as the company continues its global push.
"If we want to make money, we can, but making money is not our first goal," Hu Weiwei, co-founder and president of Mobike, told the media.
"Profit is not the most important goal for us at the moment," Hu added. "We are focused on market expansion."
