Xinhua Insight: The uphill struggle of Beijing's bicycle-sharers

To get from the nearest subway station to the kindergarten in Fengtai District of Beijing where she works only takes Ran-Ran two minutes and costs 1 yuan (14 U.S.cents).

Ran Ran, 22, who used to take a 10-minute stroll along the last section of her route, now uses a new bicycle-sharing service.

Provided mainly by two startups, Mobike and OFO Bicycle, these services run off a mobile apps. Compared with Beijing's public bicycle rental system, the service is more convenient and flexible.

"I just want a bike there when I need it," said Hu Weiwei, founder of Mobike, in an interview with "Guangzhou Daily."

Ran Ran feels exactly the same and this is why she has become a bicycle-sharing zealot.

"I like to go to concerts but traffic around the concert halls is always terrible." Going by bike, Ran Ran never misses or arrives late for concerts any more.

Ran Ran is not alone. With constant complaints about air quality and congestion, Beijingers are keen to find greener and healthier ways of life and riding a bike is an obvious starting point in a city which is basically flat, and has a long history of being cycle-friendly.

Since Mobike started up in Dec. 2015, thousands of mobikes have appeared throughout the capital, said Xing Lin, general manager of Mobike Beijing. Xing expects Beijing and Shanghai to have about 100,000 mobikes each by the end of the year.

OFO started out as a student project in Peking University in September 2015. Co-founder Zhang Siding, said the company now has 2 million users and over 70,000 bikes on campuses across 20 cities. Each bike provides around seven rides each day.

UPHILL IN HIGH GEAR

Bicycle hire can complement government bicycle rental schemes, despite some squeaky wheels and unpredictable bumps in the road.

But the number of bikes the two companies have in Beijing seems far from enough and there have been many complaints on the Chinese twitter-like Sina Weibo, some more reasonable than others.

"So far, the services are only available within Beijing's 5th ring road. I hope it expands to cover more places," said one Sina Weibo user.

Users can leave the bikes anywhere rather than specific rental booths, which makes management difficult.

"Some bikes are hidden, damaged or even stolen," said Zhang Siding.

Lack of cycle tracks on the road and bad air quality also hampers the service. Xiao Mei, a 34-year-old Beijinger used to ride a bicycle to school when she was a student in the 1990s.

"At that time the sky was blue and there were not so many cars on the road," she recalled.

But now cycle tracks are often blocked by parked cars. All kinds of other vehicles -- cars, electric vehicles, motorbikes and an onslaught of electro-tricycles satisfying delivery needs of Beijing's legions of online shoppers -- also use the bike lanes.

"Sometimes I feel afraid," Xiao said. "It is dangerous enough when motorbikes vroom by, some even in the opposite direction on the one-way lane, but the police never do anything about it."

A NEW SOLUTION TO AN OLD PROBLEM

As for how to resolve the current problems with shared bicycles, Zhang Siding thinks the government should play an active role in standardizing the management of these bikes. The government could also help the bicycle startups increase the number of the bikes available. The company also hopes to cooperate with relevant departments to ensure the safe operation of the bikes.

Xing Lin with Mobike points out that damage to QR codes on the company's bikes has resulted in huge losses. If the QR code is damaged, the bike can not be used any more. The cost of company personnel locating a lost bike and resolving the problem can be several hundred yuan, Xing said.

"Mobike has its own credit evaluation system to protect the bikes, but if the service is to go far, it still relies on the users show respect to the bikes and to other bike sharers."

Zhu Wei, echoed his views and believes that only when society has a relatively sound credit system can the sharing economy develop smoothly and grow.

"The small yellow bicycle is a barometer of civilization," said a web user Kaogumeng on Sina Weibo. "If we want to change the environment and solve social problems, we must first regulate ourselves." Endi