Didi launches bike sharing service on its app

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing on Wednesday launched its comprehensive bike-sharing platform within its app, which integrate the bike-sharing services of Ofo Inc and Bluegogo, marking the latest move toward the company's ambitious goal to become an integrated shared mobility platform.

Didi said the new service is currently available in Beijing and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province. Users will be able to use the shared bikes via Didi's app. Once they've passed a credit check, users will enjoy a deposit-free ride with Bluegogo bikes.

Riders can use the Didi app as a channel to Ofo but it does not offer a deposit-free ride.

Fu Qiang, Didi senior vice president, said the move illustrated the company's efforts to continuously improve its one-stop transportation platform.

"By launching its bike-sharing platform, Didi will upgrade its short-trip mobility strategy and provide various mobility options and better travel experiences for travelers on the last three kilometers," Fu said, referring to a previous report that noted riders usually choose a shared bike for short distances, up to 3 kilometers.

The move came shortly after Didi announced earlier this month it reached a cooperation agreement with Bluegogo, once a popular bike-sharing brand in China that recently faced rough weather.

Under the deal, users also will have the option to convert Bluegogo's deposit, privileges and app top-up values into Didi bikes and car ride coupons of an equivalent value.

With bike-sharing gaining momentum in China and expanding globally, the competition in the domestic market is getting fiercer. According to mobile data intelligence firm Jiguang, Ofo and Mobike took the top two spots in the bike-sharing industry, with more than 20 million monthly active users in November 2017. The third largest player was Hellobike, with 4.52 million monthly active users.