Shared bikes are put into use in Shanghai. (Photo/China News Service)
(ECNS) -- Shanghai Municipal Transportation Committee has urged bike-sharing companies to provide more bikes to suburbs and remote areas instead of concentrating them in downtown areas, and improve their management, Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The number of shared bikes in downtown areas of some big cities like Beijing and Shanghai has almost reached saturation point. The transportation committee in Shanghai recently urged bike-sharing companies including Mobike and Ofo to stop providing new bikes to the city.
Data from Shanghai Consumer Council showed more than 30 companies run bike-sharing businesses in the city. The total number has reached 450,000, with 4.5 million registered users, making Shanghai the leading market for the bike-sharing industry in China.
However, most bikes are concentrated in the downtown area. In Huangpu district for example, there are more than 20,000 bikes, but only 1,500 parking spots, far less than the demand. The district government confiscated approximately 5,000 shared bikes this month for disorderly parking, and called for bike-sharing companies to stop launching more bikes in the district.
Guo Jianrong, secretary-general of Shanghai Bicycle Association, said the city may need 500,000 to 800,000 shared-bikes. But the problem lies in that most bikes are concentrated in central areas, and competition (among bike-sharing companies) is fierce, he added.
Beijing has the same problem.
Both Mobile and Ofo said the total number of their bikes will reach at least 100,000 respectively in Beijing. And the newcomer Bluegogo said its 30,000 bikes had been put into use and the number would reach 80,000 at the end of March and 150,000 in April.
