Bike sharing scheme in China

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Donations to Africa perhaps?

 

[FishFright]

Isn't Communism great, keeping their own people employed,

On side note we have those yellow bikes in Sheffield, they seem to be abandoned all over the city centre, only people I have seen riding them are the homeless

The bike share schemes in China were all private enterprises, as were the firms that provided the bikes, all the government did was to give the schemes the go ahead. What has happened was pure capitalism, loads of competing firms got into the market and a handful survived.

 

[nickyboy]

I'm a regular visitor to China (was there last week) so perhaps I can explain what's really going on

There are several bike hire companies in China. They are all funded by very large sums from Venture Capital etc. At the moment they are all fighting for market share and that means putting as many bikes out on the streets as possible. Hence the oversupply. Eventually some companies will give up and supply will start to match demand.

But what's great is you see them ridden everywhere, all the time. I was in Xi'an and everywhere I looked people were riding the bikes. It's about 10p per hour to hire

 

[I like Skol]

This story is about to run on the BBC 10 o clock news! Better late than never.....

 

[Slick]

Seems they are determined to make this scheme work.

 

[Brains]

I'm a regular visitor to China (was there last week) so perhaps I can explain what's really going on

There are several bike hire companies in China. They are all funded by very large sums from Venture Capital etc. At the moment they are all fighting for market share and that means putting as many bikes out on the streets as possible. Hence the oversupply. Eventually some companies will give up and supply will start to match demand.

But what's great is you see them ridden everywhere, all the time. I was in Xi'an and everywhere I looked people were riding the bikes. It's about 10p per hour to hire

There is a bit more to the story:

China massivly overbought iron ore
Iron ore makes steel
Making steel keeps lots of people employed
Hence the reason why governments of all colours, globally 'protect' the steel industry
(Remember version 1.1 of the EU was a a steel production protection agreement)
Steel makes bikes
Make bikes and you employ thousands
Win Win

 

[FishFright]

There is a bit more to the story:

China decides to open up the market for bike sharing schemes.
Many many start ups
The market decides which one are profitable
The rest go bump.
All the inventory of the failed business's are collected up to parted out and recycled
Man in the West posts on the internet that Communism is failing again in China

And I get a little sadder about the state of the UK

 

[I like Skol]

I fell asleep before they did the bike thing. What did I miss?

 

[Slick]

I fell asleep before they did the bike thing. What did I miss?

Pretty much the story of how there came to be so many bikes abandoned all over the place but how they still reckon they are very much part of the solution to move so many people around their cities efficiently. They are restructuring and trying to make it work again.

 

[biggs682]

I fell asleep before they did the bike thing. What did I miss?

Same here

 

[I like Skol]

See now. I always said that the news at 9pm was perfect for people with a proper job. You could keep upto date with current affairs and still be in bed at a reasonable time, but the slack jawed commoners want to watch 'prime time' content in that slot so the 'boring' news got shoved back to beyond bedtime and everyone nods off before the end.

Let's start a campaign to get the 9-o-clock news reinstated

 

[Globalti]

Massive over-production of steel and a huge surplus of bikes? Isn't the centralised economy great!

As for sending them to Africa, I can tell you that no self-respecting African would want to be seen dead on such a machine apart from the few urban young who understand the inverted snobbery and eco aspects of riding a bike around.

Remeber Africar? It bombed because actually Africans want nice cars to drive around in not some shonky plywood job.

 

[ianrauk]

Another report from the BBC

I even found one of them left outside my work front door this morning.

 

[Jody]

On side note we have those yellow bikes in Sheffield, they seem to be abandoned all over the city centre, only people I have seen riding them are the homeless

Picture popped up on PeakMTB Facebook page of a bike someone had hired one to ride out to the peak district for an illegal rave. Was just parked up in the middle of nowhere.

Last week I was on the moor for an hour and saw 4 OFO bikes come past. Only one had the GPS/Lock in tact and the other three were 'modified' to be ridden for free.

 

[Trickedem]

I rode a few in Melbourne where nobody seemed to look them. I also found one in London that had the lock cut off through.
I couldn't raise the saddle enough and want overly impressed. I much prefer the Boris bikes