About three decades ago, China was known as the “Bicycle Kingdom”. But the two-wheeled mode (方式) of transport’s popularity began to fade, with many bikes soon replaced by their fuel-powered competitors.
But recent months have seen a revival (复兴) of the humble (普通的) bike across China, with an increasing number of people choosing cycling instead of driving to schools, to workplaces or to do
sightseeing. The introduction of bike-sharing schemes, pioneered by start-ups (新兴公司) like Ofo and Mobike, has brought the trend to a new level.
According to data compiled (编制) by iResearch Consulting Group, the first week of this year saw 5.85 million active users of Mobike while Ofo had 1.4 million active users.
People can unlock the shared bikes by simply using their smartphone. The bikes are equipped with GPS and can be left anywhere in public for the next user. They’re popular among many Chinese people as they provide an effective solution to the “last mile” problem, which refers to the final leg of a person’s journey.
“In places where the subway doesn’t extend (延伸到), where it’s difficult to change from one kind of transport to another, it’s so easy to get where you want to go with Mobike,” Hu Hong, 29, told AFP. She pedals (骑自行车) to her Shanghai real-estate (房地产) job.
However, the schemes have also led to problems such as illegal parking, vandalism (故意破坏) and theft.
然而,这一计划也出现了一些问题,如非法停车,故意破坏和偷窃等。
Last month, two nurses in Beijing were placed under administrative detention (行政拘留) for five days for putting locks on two shared bikes.
上个月,北京的两名护士因在共享单车上上锁(占为己有),被处以行政拘留5天。
And in December, a man who stole a shared bike was sentenced to a 3-month detention with a 3-month probation (缓刑期), and fined 1,000 yuan by the Shanghai Minhang People’s Court.
“Bike-sharing is a greener method of transportation and provides a user-friendly experience,” said Liu Xiaoming, vice-minister of transport. “But it’s a combination of online and offline business. Operators are usually strong in online services, but lack offline business experience, which causes problems.”
In fact, these problems are also shared by bike-sharing schemes abroad. Launched in 2007, Vélib is a large-scale public bike sharing system in Paris. At its early stage of operation, it also suffered from problems of vandalism or theft.
By Oct 2009, a large number of Vélib’s initial bikes had to be replaced due to vandalism or theft, according to The New York Times. Bikes were found hanging from lampposts (街灯柱) or thrown into the Seine River.
Welcome to Hangzhou. I am Li Yue, president of the Student Union in my school. I'd like to briefly introduce the Hangzhou Public Bicycle Service to you. Our city insists to protect the environment, so we began to use the Public Bicycle Service to reduce the traffic stress in 2008. There were 65 thousand bicycles for people to use in daily life. In general, more than 8 million people have to use them every year.
Some people think they are very useful and believe they will make our society more beautiful. Others think they are not convenient enough. As far as I can see, reading a bicycle is so interesting. We can take exercise with it. Meanwhile, Our environment get protected. Let's go into action!