Local authorities in Beijing have promised to stop the 15 bicycle rental companies adding any more bikes to the city’s already cramped roads and pavements.
This makes Beijing, which is estimated to have 2.4 million shared rental bikes, the 11th Chinese city after Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou to make such a move.
There is an estimated 16 million shared bicycles in China as a whole, according to the Transport Authority.
On its post on Weibo this week, the Beijing Municipal Government also promised to step up efforts to ensure the multicolored conveniences are only parked in approved spots.
Most of the smart phone enabled share bikes run on a ride-anywhere, park-anywhere business model, meaning popular areas become littered with abandoned vehicles.
The bicycles are just the latest craze in China’s sharing economy, which has also seen shared umbrellas, phone chargers and even prams.
The growth of the bicycle rental market has been particularly sharp, however, with 106 million people across China using such services, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.
The two leaders are, of course, Tencent’s orange Mobike company and Alibaba Group’s yellow Ofo.
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Keywords: share bikes ban rental bikes ban
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