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China's 'Uber for Bikes' to launch in Cambridge - with 500 bright yellow bicyclesOfo hire bike (picture credit Ofo).PNG

China's 'Uber for Bikes' to launch in Cambridge - with 500 bright yellow bicycles

Ofo has 3 million users in its home country - but campaigners in university city highlight parking problems
by Simon_MacMichael
Sat, Feb 25, 2017 15:38
8

Cambridge is to become the first city in Europe to get a bike-sharing scheme nicknamed ‘Uber for Bikes’ from a company that has taken China by storm, with 500 bright yellow bicycles set to appear on the streets of the university city next month.

Local cycle campaigners are concerned however that they could exacerbate existing problems regarding a lack of bicycle parking in the city centre.

The company behind them, Ofo, says it differs from other bike-sharing schemes such as London’s Santander Cycles in that no docking stations are required.

Instead, members use a smartphone app to unlock the bike and, once they’re finished with it, they simply reset the combination lock so the bike can await its next user.

It costs 50p per hire, irrespective of how long the bike is ridden for, or how far the journey is.

According to Wired, Ofo which launched in Beijing in 2015 now has around 3 million users in 34 cities in China, and earlier this month it began its expansion abroad with launches in Singapore and California’s Silicon Valley.

Dai Wei, co-founder of the business which is now valued at $500 million, said: “We are the first non-docking, bike-sharing platform in the world. You can find a bike anywhere and park it anywhere.”

But that issue may prove a sticking point according to Al Storer of the Cambridge Cycling Campaign.

“There’s nowhere enough cycle parking in the city centre,” he told Wired.

He added that the possibility of the bikes being stolen might also be an issue.

“Although this says a lot about how gentle a city Cambridge is, that bike theft is the leading crime,” he explained.

Ofo’s business model also allows members to share their own bicycles with others, if they wish, in return for free access to the company’s own bikes – although clearly the prospect of theft may deter many from doing so.

Ofo
China
Bike share
Cambridge
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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8 comments

Avatar
Al__S | 7 years ago
0 likes

I mean you could have spoken to me directly 10

 

Also they have no lights.

 

NO LIGHTS

Avatar
beezus fufoon replied to Al__S | 7 years ago
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Al__S wrote:

I mean you could have spoken to me directly 10

 

Also they have no lights.

 

NO LIGHTS

they don't look very aero either...

Avatar
waynem1983 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Criticism is a little harsh in what seems like a very good social idea.

 

It already seems to work in China. I think all we need to do is instill the same social and moral values in our yoof that the Chinese have beaten into their people and the cycle debri will clear itself up. 

 

Also, I don't think it's right we blame the sheer amount of cycles for the lack of bicycle parking. This is an issue the councils should be addressing. 

Avatar
handlebarcam | 7 years ago
0 likes

Bicycles in Cambridge are already piled up three-deep on narrow pavements, locked to fire escapes, strewn along railings that have "no bicycle parking" signs on them, and left rusting in heaps outside colleges and student residences at the end of each academic year. I guess three years of sociology apparently doesn't include any modules on taking your junk to the tip when you no longer have any use for it. If Ofo are going to pay for someone to go around each night moving their bikes back to prime locations, and fixing the broken ones, then it might actually be a benefit. But if it turns out to be like a lot of startups, and the whole point was to get the venture capital investment, and parlay that into the founders' next idea, with whatever 50 pences they receive going into a kitty to buy Red Bull for the app developers, then someone should collect them all up and make a sculpture out of them commemorating the Tour de France's visit in 2014. The fact that there don't appear to be any dynamo lights on the bike shown above doesn't speak well for their social conscience.

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Colin Peyresourde | 7 years ago
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I assume that you pay 50p every time you lock the bike up. So two journeys giving rise to £1 - x 365. Well you can do the cost-benefit analysis.

Makes me wonder whether they use a mobile or wireless network in connection with the locks.

interesting concept.

Avatar
DrG82 replied to Colin Peyresourde | 7 years ago
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Colin Peyresourde wrote:

I assume that you pay 50p every time you lock the bike up. So two journeys giving rise to £1 - x 365. Well you can do the cost-benefit analysis.

....

I which case you just use your normal lock rather than the combination lock on the bike.

One problem I can see is if you ride somewhere lock up the bike and then someone else takes it while you're doing whatever, you then go to make your return journey and find yourself stranded or facing an expensive journey on public transport/taxi.

 

Avatar
Andrew Southard | 7 years ago
0 likes

"It costs 50p per hire, irrespective of how long the bike is ridden for, or how far the journey is."
So, when it needs a service or fixing, you take it back and get another one. Not bad value.

Avatar
brooksby | 7 years ago
0 likes

I can totally hear what Cambridge Cycling Campaign are saying. Very few city centres , especially ones with a high student population, have anywhere near enough cycle parking. We all know how annoying it is to find advertising bikes and dead bikes filling up the available parking; now imagine how frustrating it'll be if the rest is taken up with these yellow hire bikes.

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