Thefts and sabotage a problem for China's bike-sharing system

Shared bikes lying in the grass.[Photo from web]

Bike-on-demand services like Beijing-based Mobike and Ofo have been making inroads in recent weeks, but problems of disorderly parking, theft, and sabotage have emerged as bike-sharing gains in popularity. Beijing News has reported at least 7 cases of destroyed bikes this month in Beijing.

Photos provided by netizens show that the shared bikes are being abandoned in ditches or in withered grass near rivers. At a repair station near the Wangjing Subway Station in Beijing, about 70 shared bikes are waiting for repair.

Recently, a man surnamed Han, who stole a shared bike, was sentenced to 3-month detention with 3-month probation, and fined the sum of 1,000 yuan(USD 144) by Shanghai Minhang People's Court.

However, people wonder whether criminal punishment is the only way to prevent the shared bikes from been stolen or destroyed.

As per the report, Chengguan, or urban management officers, have no duty to deal with disorderly parking at present.

Mostly, shared bikes are sabotaged by drivers of black motorcycles, private vehicles illegally carrying passengers for money, and staffs of bicycle parking lots, said Ofo's chief Public Relations Officer (CPO).

The number of shared bikes being sabotaged is under control and will not affect the operation as a whole, added the CPO.

Bike-on-demand services like Beijing-based Mobike and Ofo have been making inroads in recent weeks, but problems of disorderly parking, theft, and sabotage have emerged as bike-sharing gains in popularity. Beijing News has reported at least 7 cases of destroyed bikes this month in Beijing.

Photos provided by netizens show that the shared bikes are being abandoned in ditches or in withered grass near rivers. At a repair station near the Wangjing Subway Station in Beijing, about 70 shared bikes are waiting for repair.

Recently, a man surnamed Han, who stole a shared bike, was sentenced to 3-month detention with 3-month probation, and fined the sum of 1,000 yuan(USD 144) by Shanghai Minhang People's Court.

However, people wonder whether criminal punishment is the only way to prevent the shared bikes from been stolen or destroyed.

As per the report, Chengguan, or urban management officers, have no duty to deal with disorderly parking at present.

Mostly, shared bikes are sabotaged by drivers of black motorcycles, private vehicles illegally carrying passengers for money, and staffs of bicycle parking lots, said Ofo's chief Public Relations Officer (CPO).

The number of shared bikes being sabotaged is under control and will not affect the operation as a whole, added the CPO.

A user brings the Mobike to his office.[Photo: Sina Weibo]

Mobike, Ofo's major rival, said that they have staff patrols and checks their shared bikes to make sure there are no problems, and to inform police if there are.

Mobike has set a 100 credit score for each user. And penalty points will be taken in the case of bad behaviors. Once a score drops below 80, bike rental will be increased to 5 yuan(USD 0.7) per hour.

"I think Mobike's punishment is not severe. If I were the founder of Mobike, I would drag those bad users onto blacklists, and they would have no chance to ride our shared bikes ever again," said Fu Weigang, Executive Dean of Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law(SIFL).

Sharing means that self-discipline matters. Sharing bikes will work well if people raise their moral literacy and law awareness, but punishment also helps force users to follow the rules, Fu added.

As of Friday, Shenzhen Traffic Police Bureau in south China and Mobike have jointly announced that they will draft a Regulation of Traffic Order for sharing bikes.

Since August, Mobike has received investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. Its counterpart, Ofo, which put its 2,000 shared bikes into use at Peking University campus more than a year ago, is now valued at USD 500 million. Newcomers like Hello-bike and Ubike are catching up.