UWP 1

Professor Michele Zugnoni

Xinyu Han
July 25, 2017

Chinese Bike-sharing System

(Sharing Bicycles are lining in the rack near a business mansion. Source: http://www.wired.

co.uk/article/chinese-bike-sharing-company-ofo-is-coming-to-cambridge-in-the-uk)

Table Contents

Overview

Introduction

History of bike-sharing System

1.1 Historical Programs

Business Models

2.1 System Access and Registration

2.2 Methods of Unlocking Bikes

2.3 Additional Service Fee

Current Benefits and Issues

3.1 Positive Impacts

3.2 Negative Problems

3.3 Future Development

Overview
Chinese bike-sharing system is an innovative bicycle time-sharing system that was

constructed in 2016 in China. The Chinese bike-sharing system not only contains a low-carbon

travel concept that effectively relieves air pollution but also creates a sustainable transportation

among the automation age. In the bike-sharing system history, Chinese government and

companies have learned advantages through previous three generations and created the fourth-

generation bike-sharing system that engaged with Mobile Phone Apps. In 2017, the Chinese

bike-sharing system has popularized in 20 big cities in China, and it is well received by Chinese

citizens because it is convenient to register and access on the phone. However, because it is a

new rising public service, it has advantages that need to be kept and disadvantages that need to

be improved. Since Chinese bike-sharing companies have operated large-scale programs, it has

given people a healthy option of going out. However, now theft and vandalism, safety, and

property control have become serious problems in China. Even though the Chinese government

has established local supervision departments and has been involved in managing bike-sharing

programs, there are still more measures take in the future.

Introduction
The Chinese Bike-sharing system [5] is a constructive public facility that was inspired

and learned from Western Europe. This public facility built at the end of the year 2016 in China.

bike-sharing has attracted lots of attention because of its "low-carbon travel" concept, so the

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Chinese government encouraged local government to put it into effect for the society [6]. The

public service areas, near the campus, subway station, bus station, residential area, and business

district, assemble a batch of bicycles so that people can use their ID cards to rent bikes [2].

Recent years have seen a rapid development and implementation of public bicycle

systems or bike-sharing systems. Depending on the statistic investigation, it is estimated that

there have been some 461 bike-sharing programs set up in 28 countries; alternatively, more than

500 programs in 49 countries [1]. From the start of the 21st century to the present day, we have

seen a period of relative decline, with motorized vehicles taking the place of bicycles. Despite

this trend, the serious concerns relating to transportation, energy consumption, and

environmental pollution were concerted efforts to encourage Chinese citizens to travel by bicycle

as a green and sustainable form of transportation [4].

History of the bike-sharing system

Historical Programs

Bike-sharing systems have undergone changes which can be categorized by generations. In the

bike-sharing systems history, it has taken four significant generations [1]:

(Three bike-sharing systems characteristics and pictures [2].)

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 The first generation of bike-sharing programs began on July 28, 1965 in Amsterdam with

the Witte Fietsen or White Bikes. The first generation of bike-sharing programs provide free

bicycles to borrow and return from any location, but vandalism and theft appeared because of

bikes standard colors [1].

The second generation of the bike-sharing programs was born in 1991in Fars and Gren,

Denmark and in 1993 in Nakskov, Denmark. Then, it was launched in Copenhagen as Bycyklen,

or City Bikes, with many improvements over the previous generation. They created a bicycle

lending library with a membership and annual fee. Then, they used custom-built heavy duty

bicycles with non-standard components to reduce theft [2].

The first of this new breed of third generation bike-sharing programs was Bikeabout in

1996 at Portsmouth University in England, where students could use a magnetic stripe card to

rent a bike. Otherwise, bike-sharing companies improved bicycle designs, sophisticated docking

stations and automate payment systems. Additionally, some companies initiated the use of GPS

to track bicycles and operated self-service bicycle stations, which communicate with a central

computer to monitor the location of bicycles [2].

In the last two years, some traditional "docked" public bike systems operated by local

municipal governments opened across China, with the largest ones being in Wuhan and

Hangzhou. In 2017, some of private competing app-based "dockless" bike-sharing programs, the

fourth generation, have started to appear in numerous cities across China, and also two largest of

the "dockless" operators are Mobike and Ofo [2]. Contrasting with previous generations, the

innovative of these Chinese operators is connect networked self-service bicycle stations and

central control computers to the mobile phone real time apps and, they also provide solar-

powered docking stations and electric bicycles [4].

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 (Current development of bike-sharing systems in five big cities in China.)

Table 1

City Statistic Status Survey

Beijing In March 2017, 200,000 "dockless" shared bikes from various companies
entered Beijing. The bikes are accessible via an app and cost 1 RMB per
hour plus a refundable damage deposit of 299 RMB.

Shanghai The Shanghai Bike Authority estimated that there are 280,000 shared bikes
in Shanghai by March 2017 with a projected increase of 220,000 bikes by
June.

Guangzhou According to the local government, in 2017, Guangzhou has a fleet of over
700,000 bikes in various public and private bike share programs.

Nanjing A municipal docked bike share program opened in 2014 with about 25,000
bikes and 896 stations.

Guilin In 2014, Guilin City opened docked bike share with 3,000 bikes spread out
over 100 stations.

(Table 1 shows current statistic bike-sharing status in five big cities in China [4])

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Business Model

System Access and Registration

The key of innovative fourth bike-sharing system generation in China

is the application of mobile phone Apps, and approximately thirty apps

(Shown on the right) are published either on Apple or Android Store.

Therefore, people do not need smartcards or magnetic stripe cards to check

out bicycles from the automated bicycle rack. Instead, mobile phone apps

provide an automated lock on the bicycle itself, and users can register, pay

annual rental fees, check-in, check out, get GPS, and receive entry codes on

cellphones [6].

Most systems have technical stations, so users can register before accessing bicycles at

the docking stations and offer multiple options to register and pay for using the bicycles (e.g.,

Chinese Citizen IDs, credit card). It encourages casual tourist use, and registration is usually

quickly and easily handled at each docking station [1].

Methods of Unlocking Bikes

After downloading bike-sharing apps, people first have to register and pay annual or

monthly fees on it. Because apps require verification and receive entry codes, people have to

provide phones numbers and ID numbers [6].

While people finish the registration, they can open the apps and click booking my

bicycle so that apps will research and book available bikes near to them. Then, people can

follow the direction on the map and find their bikes [2].

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 As long as people find their booking bikes, different bike-sharing corporations have

various methods to unlock the bike:

A. Some bicycles have electronic locks, so people can enter codes that provide on the

apps to open.

B. Some bicycles have manual number locks, so people can twist corresponding

numbers on the lock to unlock.

C. WeChat is a famous communicating app in China, so some companies that

collaborate with will provide entry code on WeChat after scanning a QR code.

After people arrive at their destinations, they have to park the bicycle at proper locations

and lock on mechanical locks [6].

When people want to return the bicycles, they just have to go to same company docking

stations, place bicycles in the racks, and click Returning bikes on the apps.

(The visual manipulating process of Hangzhou Public Bike system.)

Additional Service Fee

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 Casual and tourist using fees: bike-sharing companies all use sub-billing method.

People pay 1 RMB for every half hour, and the billing starts from the unlock and ends

at the return. The billing of second time recalculates from the beginning [2].

Destroy and maintenance fees: if people destroy or lose their bicycles, they have to pay

for loss and maintenance costs [2].

Current Benefits and Issues

Positive impacts

The experience of China, particularly in the city of Zhuzhou, suggests that a significant

portion of people choose the bike-sharing system to complete their daily urban journey i.e. not

only traveling the first/last mile but also from door-to-door. Bike-sharing system provides them

with a highly healthy, convenient, reliable, and cost-effective way to commute traffic, go

shopping, partake in recreation, visit friends, and do exercises [2]. It has become an important

part of public transport systems and an effective way of meeting healthy, environmental,

economic, social and cultural sustainability goals.

In urban areas, when dense populations are over reliant on vehicles, the bike-sharing

system provides a complete solution to sustainable mass transportation [4]. Also, nowadays,

public attitudes towards green issues, such as pollution, traffic congestion, and protection of the

natural environment are complex. Therefore, establishing the bike-sharing system as a

mainstream transportation, is a significant decision made at the public policy level that has

physical, institutional, and financial implications [2].

Eventually, global warming is a controversial issue that people have argued for a long

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time. How to reduce the discharge of greenhouse gases? What measures that government could

make to replace cars using? are main questions that need to be solved. After the bike-sharing

system was published, it decreased usage rate of vehicles that cause air pollution when people

want to take short trips to the city [2].

Negative Problems

(Large quantities of rentable bicycles have piled up in communities across Shenzhen in southern

of China. Source: http://mashable.com/2017/01/18/bike-sharing-pile-up-china/#U6Y7hjcrCPqa)

On the Wall Street Journal [3], a video reveals that dozens of bike-sharing programs in

China don't use docking stations, leaving many bikes at the mercy of vandals and thieves, so

bike-sharing system also has disadvantages in China.

Theft and vandalism: Because renting bicycles are small and light, some of them are

stolen when people are parked at public places [2]. Despite the use of custom components and

user identification technologies, theft and vandalism of bicycles are major challengew in many

systems.

Helmets: Because bike-sharing stations do not provide helmets, some children and old

people are injured or encountered accident [2].

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 Tracking Location [2]: Since billions of bicycles applied into each bike-sharing

company, incomplete apps cannot accurately locate each bicycle at the time. Also, It is hard to

manage and control social and public orders at local areas.

Abandon and excessive consumption [3]: Because bike-sharing corporation pursued

convenience and accessibility, there are no authoritative departments recycle old and destroyed

bicycles. As a result, some bicycles just have been stripped bare, thrown in dumpsters, hung in

the tree, set on fire, wrenched out of Shape, tossed in canals, flung under cars and piled in

mangled heaps outside of town

Further Development

Government and bike-sharing companies have started doing further research exploring

further the complex interplay in design between products and services and facilitating systems

(i.e. infrastructure) that are needed to create complex bike-sharing systems which maximize the

value of bike-sharing use in urban environments [2]. The government has established local

supervise facilities to manage bikes. Some companies also have improved apps which have real

time monitoring and real-name registration systems that could trace people in the whole local

areas [3]. Overall, the bike- sharing system represents a good example of green consumption in

travel and an innovative solution to meeting the needs of people to be mobile in the urban

environment of the future.

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Citations:

1. DeMario, P. (2009). Bike-sharing: History, Impacts, Models of Provision, and Future.

Journal of Public Transportation, Vol.12.2009.11.004. Retrieved from:
www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

2. Midgley, P. (2011). Bibcycle-Sharing Schemes: Enhancing Sustainable Mobility in

Urban Areas, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York,
No.8. 2011.05.013. Retrieved from: http://www.cleanairinstitute.org/cops/bd/file/tnm/13-
bike-sharing.pdf

3. Moss, T. (2017, April 03). Share Bikes Come to China, Where Some of Them Meet
Grisly Fates. Retrieved from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/braking-bad-thieves-and-
pranksters-lay-waste-to-chinas-share-bikes-1491230284

4. OBrien, O., Cheshire, J., & Batty, M. (2014). Mining bicycle sharing data for generating
insights into sustainable transport systems. Journal of Transport Geography, 34, 262-
273. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2013.06.007. Retrieved from: www.elsevier.com/locate/
jclepro

5. Serpentza. (2017, Jan 15). Chinas Bicycle Sharing Revolution, YouTube, Retrieved
from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9G1jLUeUk

6. Zhang, L., Zhang, J., Duan, Z., & Bryde, D. (2015). Sustainable bike-sharing systems:
characteristics and commonalities across cases in urban China. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 97, 124-133. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.006. Retrieved
from:www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

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