Go Forth and Multiply

[Shelley]

This is the link to info about how it works https://yobike.co.uk/cycle-circle-1/2017/9/18/yobike-bringing-smart-bike-sharing-to-southampton

[889]

I think Shelley is outside China. And that's what's interesting, that the promoters behind these bike schemes are expanding across the globe almost as quickly as they've expanded across China.

'

[Shelley]

Yes I am not in China as 889 says. It is interesting the scale and rate of expansion.

[Lu]

They're in the Netherlands as well. In Amsterdam, that is, which is already pretty congested with parked bikes, so the city government was not pleased when overnight a bunch of shared bikes was dumped in various places in the city. I think they're sorting it out at the moment. I'm not in Amsterdam that often, so not sure of the status.

 

The funny thing is, if I'm not mistaken this is originally a Dutch plan. In the 1965, the Provo movement (a type of hippies) launched the White Bikes Plan: bikes painted white could be picked up and used and left again by anyone. The political climate in Amsterdam at the time was such that the first white bike was immediately confiscated by the police. A few years later, a more sound plan was launched, but it failed as the bikes were swiftly stolen. These days, the closest thing we have to a true shared bike system is the OV-fiets (public transport bike), bike rental with your 一卡通, based at railway stations. It's not as broad as in China and you can't hop on-hop off, but I also never see them piled up anywhere. I use them and like them.

[Shelley]

I remember the white bikes, I went to Amsterdam twice in the late 70s. We heard about them but never saw one because as you say they were stolen and painted.

 

On our second visit we hired bikes and cycled to our friend's house. We were encouraged to ride with our friend but would have been quite daunted on our own. It was relatively cheap. An other couple of our friends had a bike touring holiday where they went to Holland on the ferry and when they arrived they collected their bikes, cycled around for 2 weeks and then returned with the bikes which was part of the package so the ended up with 2 good, solid Dutch bikes of the 70s.

 

Nowadays White bikes or Ghost bikes are bikes painted white and left as a memorial for a cyclist killed in a road traffic accident. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_bike

[Shelley]

And here is where all the sharing bicycles go to die

 

It is school yard in Hefei, apparently they are going to return them all to the rightful owners.

[889]

If you want to use these bikes but can't because you have problems setting up Alipay or Wechat Wallet -- and who doesn't -- then try downloading the OFO global app. It's in English and takes non-Mainland credit cards.

 

For Android it's on Google Play, but only some regions.

[889]

小蓝单车 Bluegogo is gone gone.

 

I recall reading somewhere that regulations require the deposits to be kept in escrow and not used for operations, but nonetheless it looks like riders are having problems getting their deposits back: even if the funds are still there (and how gullible can we be), there's no Bluegogo left to process the refunds.

 

Edit Add:

 

"今年4月小藍單車官方曾發出聲明，稱小藍單車已與招商銀行簽署資金託管協議，用戶押金與運營資金嚴格區分。但從招商銀行總行、北京分行，上海分行和深圳分行分別傳來的消息均為「該行與小藍單車並無資金託管業務上的合作。」"

 

https://www.hk01.com/兩岸/134262/-共享泡沫-小藍單車被曝欠款2億解散-官媒刊文剖析行業困境

[889]

As a fitting finale to this thread, I'll ask:

 

Has anyone received a deposit refund from OFO?

 

EDIT: Whoops! Just checked again and I did receive a refund from OFO, after about two weeks. (11/2018)

 

FURTHER EDIT:   哈啰 Hellobike returned my deposit today in minutes. (They never got around to processing my real-name registration and CS never responded). Mobike is now deposit-free, but can also have problems with foreigners' real-name registration. The solution for me was truncating my name to 20 characters. (12/2108)

[889]

Every good finale deserves an encore, but I'll just say, "Boy, I never saw this coming."

 

The rise and fall of Mobike and Ofo, China’s bike-sharing twin stars

 

So what's next to go belly-up? Appropriately enough, maybe it'll be 珍珠奶茶.