Bike-sharing boom enters smooth path

After the rapid development, the bike-sharing boom in China now enters a new phase of stable development and has become commuters’ new option for short trips, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report for the fourth quarter of 2017, issued by Chinese bike-sharing titan Ofo Inc, Chinese Academy of Transportation Sciences of Ministry of Transport, Urban Think-Do Tank Institute, showed that as of December 2017, the world had 23 million shared bikes in 304 global cities with nearly 400 million registered users.

Shared bike has now become the key connecting tool in urban areas and effective addition to public transport. According to the report, more than half of the trips usually cover a distance ranging from 500 meters to 2 kilometers per ride, and more than 60 percent of users will ride six to 20 minutes per trip.

The enthusiasm for the dockless shared bikes is not exclusive among the first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Data from the report showed that the south central China areas showed the most significant surge in active users in the fourth quarter last year.

Citizens in Chengdu, Sichuan province, topped other cities in showing the greatest love for riding shared bikes. And Hangzhou of Zhejiang province reported the lowest bicycle damage rate.

Currently, two major bike-sharing providers Ofo Inc and Mobike Technology Co Ltd dominate the domestic market, taking a total market share of more than 90 percent.

Now, the bike-sharing craze, which originated from China, is expanding globally to more overseas regions.

By the end of last year, Ofo had launched shared bikes in 250 cities in 20 countries. And its top rival Mobike operates over 8 million shared bikes in more than 200 cities in 12 countries, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States and Thailand.