One of the main changes I noticed here in Shanghai as I returned here yesterday after two years, is the amount of bicycles. Sure there were bicycles before. But mostly electric scooters. When I left in 2016, they had just started a bike-share program at the university campus. You were not supposed to take bikes off campus, but as campus is pretty large, students were very happy about it.
In the meantime this expanded, and about 100 companies started a system: an app & bikes all over the city to unlock & ride as long as you like. You pay per minute of using the bike. Once you lock it, the timer stops and the bike becomes available for someone else. Genius, you might say.
Well. The problem is not so much with the bikes. But what happens with bikes that need repair? Right, they are simply left behind. And what happens to bikes from the companies that went bust - 98% of them... Right now you see mostly the yellow ofo bikes, at least in the part of Shanghai I'm staying in.
There are enormous fields of unused bikes that need repair. Some great pictures of the Chinese graveyards of shared bikes can be found here.
Be well. And follow me to see more #randomchina pictures, as there i so much amazement available here, too good not to share with you all.
And for my fiction fans, I'm working on some stories as well, so don't worry.
