China was known as "the kingdom of bicycle" about 30 years ago. And these days many people choose to drive cars and use the public transportation, but bike rental (租赁) services are bringing bikes back. Now an increasing number of people are choosing riding instead of driving. The online bike rental services lead to the development of bikes in China.
To use a shared bike, you just need a smartphone. All bikes have GPS, so you can find a bike through your smartphone easily. When you find a bike, you just need to scan a QR code (扫二维码) on the bike, and then you can use it. And you can park it anywhere in public for the next user. Shared bikes help you to work out "last-mile" problems in cities. For example, many people find it difficult to get to the hotel when they get off trains or to travel around the city. Shared bikes provide them with a good choice. Going green seems to be a fashion for more and more people.
Online rental services are making biking more convenient, but it's still not easy to ride bikes in Chinese cities. Cars often take up bicycle lanes (车道). Bikers have to ride next to cars in car lanes, which can cause safety problems. Also online rental services have led to some problems like wrong parking and vandalism (故意破坏).
Now, the government and bike-sharing companies are trying to deal with these problems. Beijing plans to build more than 3,200 km of new bike lanes. Drivers who drive in bike lanes will be punished. Traffic signs will be put up to protect bikers better. Mobike, the biggest bike-sharing company, sets a 100-point credit (信用) score for each user. The points will be taken if the user behave badly. Once the score drops below 80, bike rental will be increased from 1 yuan to 100 yuan per 30 minutes.
| Shared bikes | |
| Theme | The online bike rental services lead to the of bikes in China. |
| Advantages | Parking it anywhere in public |
| Helping you to "last-mile" problems | |
| Going seems to be a fashion | |
| Problems | Problems about how to keep |
| Wrong parking and vandalism | |
| Solutions | Building 3,200 km of new bike lanes |
| Carrying out punishment and putting up traffic signs | |
| Changing bike rental according to bikers' credit scores | |
