Beijing planning pilot program to cope with bike share clutter

Municipal authorities in Beijing are reportedly working on a pilot program to try to deal with bike share clutter which has become problematic in certain pedestrian areas of Beijing, reports the Beijing News.

Under the proposed program, which will be piloted first in Beijing's Dongcheng and Xicheng Districts, shared bicycles which are left by users outside designated areas will continue to charge the users.

Shared bikes parked in a specific location near the Babaoshan subway station established by the local government in Beijing's Shijingshan District on May 17, 2017. [Photo: Chinaplus]

This is the latest step being taken to try to reduce the clutter of shared bicycles which have been creating problems in certain choke points in Beijing.

Municipal authorities in Beijing first began mapping out designated bike share parking areas, mostly outside subway stations, bus stops and commercial areas earlier this year.

The "electric fence" concept for Dongcheng and Xicheng Districts would seemingly run counter to the original concept behind bike sharing, which is to leave the bikes at any location, and allow electronic positioning programs through the apps for new users to locate them.

Shared bikes parked in a specific location near the Babaoshan subway station established by the local government in Beijing's Shijingshan District on May 17, 2017. [Photo: Chinaplus]

However, the rapid rise in popularity of the bike sharing systems has led to thousands of additional bicycles being put into the system in cities around China, creating difficulties for pedestrians to navigate around the bikes.

Bike sharing companies like Mobike, Ofo and Bluegogo have been creating better location systems on their apps, as well as programs for people to retrieve the bikes and take them away from high-traffic locations.