news

Public bicycles are coming to an end after 12 years of operation in Beijing. On August 13, a Beijing Business Daily reporter learned from the Beijing Huairou District Public Bicycle Refund and Card Refund Advisory Office that Huairou District is the last district in Beijing to withdraw from public bicycle operations, and will officially terminate operations on September 10 this year. Citizens can apply for a refund and card return before January 15 next year.

Relevant analysis points out that the rise of public bicycles, their gradual replacement by shared bicycles, and their final exit from the market have both fulfilled their historical mission and are the inevitable result of market-oriented development. This change not only reflects the shift in urban transportation demand, but also reflects the impact of technological innovation and market competition on urban transportation services. The exit of public bicycles may mean that a more flexible, convenient, and market-oriented mode of travel is becoming mainstream.

The last zone is closed

"On the morning of the day the notice was sent, at least 70 to 80 people called to inquire. We received hundreds of calls a day." The person in charge of the public bicycle refund and card return consultation office in Huairou District, Beijing, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that since the announcement of the termination of public bicycle operations, the number of people who came to inquire about refunds and card returns has increased dramatically. Some people feel it is a pity and want to use it for a while longer, while others hope to deal with the cards in their hands in time and get their deposits back.

On August 10, the Huairou District Media Center of Beijing announced that the Huairou District public bicycle service system was completed and put into operation in 2016. After nearly eight years of operation, the vehicles and station facilities have aged, and the safety risks of cycling have increased. After sufficient research and demonstration, the Huairou District public bicycle service system will cease operations on September 10, 2024.

It is reported that from September 10, Huairou District will gradually remove the original bicycle piles, and the regional public bicycles will gradually withdraw from operation. After the public bicycle project ends, the original public bicycle stations will no longer have the function of renting and returning bicycles. From August 10 to January 15 next year, Huairou District will centrally handle the refund and return of citizens' cards. Cardholders and agents need to prepare all the documents and go to the Huairou District Public Bicycle Management Service Center for processing. Mobile phone scan code rental users can apply for a deposit refund through the App.

The person in charge of the Public Bicycle Refund and Card Refund Advisory Office in Huairou District, Beijing, pointed out that Huairou District was the last district in Beijing to withdraw from public bicycle operations. After three years of market-oriented operation, it was eventually forced to stop operations due to aging facilities, high maintenance and update costs, and excessive investment. "Public bicycles need to maintain not only the vehicles themselves, but also the stations and cabinets, etc., and the maintenance and update costs of these are relatively high."

"Take the operation and maintenance costs of Hangzhou's public bicycles as an example. The average cost per bicycle is about 1,000 yuan, which is even higher than the cost of a new bicycle," Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, told Beijing Business Daily.

It is reported that since March 2021, Beijing's Dongcheng District, Chaoyang District, Haidian District and other central urban areas have successively announced the suspension of public bicycles. As of June 30 of that year, public bicycles in Tongzhou District, Huairou District, Daxing District and Changping District have been converted to market-oriented operations and are subject to supervision by district-level management departments, and public bicycles in other administrative districts have all withdrawn from operation.

In 2022, Daxing District and Changping District successively issued notices to stop public bicycles. In addition, in May 2023, according to Beijing News Radio, the public bicycles that were stopped in Tongzhou District were going through the asset disposal process at the time and started bidding.

Shared bikes take over

Public bicycles are actually short for "public bicycle travel system", and the concept originated in Europe. In China, Beijing was the first city to launch public bicycles. The earliest public bicycles in Beijing appeared in 2005, and were operated by a private enterprise at that time, Beko Blueprint Public Bicycle Rental Company. It is understood that it was mainly established to serve citizens and tourists during the 2008 Olympic Games. However, after the Olympic Games, the system stopped operating due to various reasons.

In 2012, after several adjustments, the construction model of Beijing's public bicycle system was finally restarted with a government-led, enterprise-participated model, and the Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission and the Municipal Urban Appearance Commission organized and led the promotion of public bicycles. In the early stages of operation, the convenient and low-cost model of public bicycles was highly recognized. According to the Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission, on August 24, 2015, the number of rentals and returns of public bicycles in the six districts of Beijing City was 150,844, breaking the 150,000 mark for the first time, setting a new record. In addition, among the 28 important livelihood projects in Beijing in 2016, there is also a "plan to add 10,000 public bicycles."

In 2016, the “stop and go” shared bicycles quickly became popular across the country, almost changing the way most people travel, which also had a direct impact on the development of public bicycles.

Bai Wenxi said that the rapid development of shared bicycles has had a great impact on public bicycles. The convenience, flexibility and large-scale market launch of shared bicycles make it difficult to compare with public bicycles in terms of resource distribution and management model, resulting in a significant reduction in the usage rate of public bicycles.

Some citizens told the Beijing Business Daily that the biggest advantage of public bicycles is that they are cheap. Riding is free for one hour, and then it costs 1 yuan per hour. But its disadvantages are also obvious. The application and return mode is not very convenient, and the overall number of stations is also relatively small. "In the beginning, you need to pay a deposit of 200 yuan and go to the site in person. Later, even if a new application method was changed, compared with the shared bicycles that had already developed at that time, the advantage was no longer obvious."

Data shows that in September 2017, the total number of shared bicycles in Beijing reached a peak of 2.35 million. According to the Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission, in 2020, various Internet rental bicycle operators reported a total of 844,000 vehicles to the Beijing Internet Rental Bicycle Industry Supervision and Service Platform. During the same period, the total number of Internet rental bicycles in Beijing was 690 million, with an average daily ride of 1.889 million, an increase of 13.4% over 2019. As of 2023, the number of Internet rental bicycles in Beijing is still growing, reaching 1.088 billion, with an average daily ride of 2.9899 million, an increase of 12.79% over 2022.

The last mile

A Beijing Business Daily reporter checked the "Beijing Public Bicycle" App and found that there were no bicycle location marks on the map. According to the person in charge of the Beijing Huairou District Public Bicycle Refund and Card Refund Advisory Office, in the future, Huairou District will mainly operate Internet rental bicycles such as Hellobike to reduce the inconvenience caused to citizens by the suspension of public bicycles. As for how the retired public bicycles will be handled, no specific notice has been received yet.

Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Institute of Management of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that for the large number of public bicycles that have been retired, some vehicles in good condition can be refurbished and upgraded, put back on the market or transferred to other cities or regions for continued use; vehicles that can no longer be reused can be treated in an environmentally friendly manner to ensure that they do not cause environmental pollution. It is also possible to consider cooperating with professional recycling companies to dismantle and recycle the vehicles.

Wang Peng further pointed out that the withdrawal of Beijing's public bicycle system marks an important change in the city's transportation model. This change not only reflects the shift in urban transportation needs, but also reflects the impact of technological innovation and market competition on urban transportation services. The withdrawal of public bicycles may mean that more flexible, convenient and market-oriented travel methods are becoming mainstream. While encouraging and supporting the development of emerging travel methods, we should also focus on the overall planning and coordinated development of urban transportation to avoid waste of resources and duplication of construction.

"Public bicycles were originally intended to solve the problem of the 'last mile' of travel, that is, to provide convenient transportation from leaving the house to entering the station. From the rise of public bicycles to their gradual replacement by shared bicycles and finally to their final withdrawal from the market, this is both the fulfillment of their historical mission and the inevitable result of market-oriented development." Professor Ye Tanglin, executive dean of the Institute of Economic and Social Development of Megacities at Capital University of Economics and Business, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter.

Ye Tanglin believes that judging from the recent price increases of some shared bicycle brands, the development of shared bicycles has begun to mature from the previous wild growth. After gradual standardization and stabilization, its prices are also returning to normal. However, there is an upper limit to the price increase of shared bicycles. In a fully competitive market, it is ultimately necessary to serve the "last mile" of urban residents at a more reasonable price.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Jin Chaoli Cheng Liang