China exports its bike-sharing revolution to the U.S. and the world

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: September 1, 2017 at 6:39:54 AM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] China exports its bike-sharing revolution to the U.S. and the world
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> China exports its bike-sharing revolution to the U.S. and the world
> By Simon Denyer
> Aug 31 2017
> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-exports-its-bike-sharing-revolution-to-the-us-and-the-world/2017/08/31/474c822a-87f4-11e7-9ce7-9e175d8953fa_story.html>
>
> — To rent a bike in China, all it takes is a phone app, and any of the millions of bicycles scattered on sidewalks 
> everywhere can be yours. No bike stand. No drop-off point. You scan a code, you ride, you leave and lock the bike 
> wherever and whenever you’re done.
>
> China’s billion-dollar bike-sharing revolution has already transformed the look and feel of cities around the 
> country, with more than 100 million apps downloaded and billions of rides taken on many millions of bikes.
>
> Now it is going global.
>
> Last month, a Chinese company called Ofo made its first foray into the United States, delivering 1,000 bicycles to 
> the streets of Seattle, with plans to expand nationally. From Italy to Kazakhstan, from Britain to Japan, from 
> Singapore — Asia’s greenest city — to one of its most congested, Bangkok, Ofo and its main Chinese rival Mobike are 
> on a breakneck race to expand across the globe.
>
> Welcomed in many cities, but not by everyone, the companies are already encountering a backlash. Opponents have 
> branded Ofo and Mobike a menace, a plague and a public nuisance.
>
> Each of the two main Chinese companies has more than 7 million bikes in operation in over 150 cities, mostly in 
> China, and each recently attracted $600 million to $700 million in new funding to finance their global expansions.
>
> Bikes are typically fitted with GPS locators to enable users to find them via the app. Payment is minimal and made 
> electronically.
>
> Beijing, a city where bikes once ruled, has once again taken to two wheels, and most cyclists seem to use a shared 
> bike these days. Greener and healthier to use, the bikes get commuters to and from public transit stations and 
> discourage car use. They solve what planners call the “first-mile-last-mile problem,” helping people get from their 
> homes to a bus stop, for example, or from a subway station to their final destination.
>
> Dubbed “Uber for bikes,” they have proved much more popular than schemes based on docking stations. New York’s Citi 
> Bike, with 10,000 bikes and 236,000 subscribers, is the largest operation in the United States. Compare that with 
> Beijing, which has 700,000 shared bikes and 11 million registered users, nearly half the capital’s population. 
> (Washington’s Capital Bikeshare program offers 3,700 bikes.)
>
> Unlike arrangements based on docking stations in Washington and London, the dockless model doesn’t require government 
> subsidies and is already spawning rival start-ups: California’s Spin and LimeBike narrowly beat Ofo to the punch in 
> Seattle after the city pulled the plug on its subsidized bike-sharing program.
>
> Ofo is now advertising on its LinkedIn page for a country head based in the greater New York area, while Mobike is 
> advertising for jobs in Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.
>
> The explosion in users speaks to their success. But they are not universally liked.
>
> In China, bikes clog sidewalks and pile up in unruly flocks outside subway stations, shopping malls, office buildings 
> and road intersections. Unwanted or broken bikes are dumped by highways, in rivers and parks, on construction sites 
> or under bridges.
>
> Shanghai-based blogger Marc Milián calls them a “plague,” while locals have taken to social media to lambaste the 
> “anarchic experiment” that is creating “a new generation of trash.”
>
> Shanghai’s government has seized thousands of illegally parked bikes. It recently called for a halt on companies 
> putting more bikes onto the streets and asked them to work faster to remove badly parked bikes.
>
> Yet, in a country where the government puts a premium on controlling its citizens, Chinese officials have displayed a 
> remarkably light touch with this booming new business. In guidelines issued last month, the State Council welcomed 
> shared bikes as part of “the green urban transport system,” while urging local governments “to ensure rational 
> allocation of bicycles and avoid excess supply in some areas.”
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125
Unsubscribe Now: 
https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20170901083627:2A27FE34-8F12-11E7-95F8-B2AD16BC309D
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com