More than 10 million users of bike-rental firm ofo have requested deposit refunds, with the company possibly owing in excess of RMB 1 billion (USD 145 million) to its riders.

On Tuesday, Dec 18, an ofo user posted a screenshot on microblogging platform Weibo informing them that they were number 10,000,001 on the refund waiting list. The screenshot was picked up by Chinese media outlet AllWeather TMT. As of 4 p.m. today, more than 11 million people have requested their money back.

An ofo spokesperson refused to confirm to TechNode the number of requests the company had received.

Riders’ deposits amount to either RMB 99 or RMB 199, with earlier adopters paying the lesser of the two amounts. However, earlier this year the company attempted to get all users to upgrade to the RMB 199 tier. If all users request just RMB 99, the company would owe around RMB 1 billion.

As of Dec 18 at 4pm, more than 11 million users had applied for refunds

The en masse requests follow users flocking to the company’s headquarters in Beijing to get their money back. Yesterday, more than 100 people lined up outside ofo’s office. They were instructed to leave their personal information, including banking details, and were promised refunds within three days.

The company then issued an emergency statement, saying all applications, either online or offline, would be collected and processed in order.

“There is no difference between on-site waiting or online application,” ofo said in the announcement.

Users subsequently began refreshing their position in the online refund queue and posting the screenshots to Weibo.

Last month, the company said its system for refunding users’ deposits was operating as normal, though the waiting period had been increased from 10 to 15 days. The company also encouraged users to transfer their RMB 99 deposits to online lender PPmoney to continue getting deposit-free rides. It later withdrew from the partnership.

Shortly after, users reported issues withdrawing their deposits in the ofo app, though the company denied the claims.

READ: China to Tackle Delivery Waste Crisis With New Green Standards

Photos: bikeforeverbluegear.com, Courtesy of TechNode

Beijing is an amazing place if you love biking. There are countless nooks and crannies in this wonderful, ancient city to explore, and the best way to discover them is by bike. Along with being a great form of exercise, biking liberates you from the choice of public transport or horrendous traffic and gets you where you need to be. With this in mind, we enlisted a group of British School of Beijing (BSB), Shunyi students to tell us exactly how their relationship with biking, for sport and leisure, has developed, along with how to make the most of this city by solely using your own generated power and thirst for adventure.

Disclaimer: While biking in Beijing is generally safe, it is important to ride with a helmet and with caution to avoid injury. Bike safe, and smart! 

Beijing, once affectionately named “The Kingdom of Bikes,“ is a city known for its huge number of two-wheeled people movers. But with the rise of bike sharing and thousands of new bikes now flooding the streets due to companies like Mobike and Ofo, biking has entered a new era. We are also blessed with wide roads and bike lanes that simply don’t exist in many other countries, which can make cycling a great way to get around compared to other modes of transport.

Beijing has some fantastic routes to offer, which is great for mobile teens like myself. The best way is to plan your route around your interests.

Shopping and Eating
You can discover the new restaurants and cafés constantly popping up downtown, and get lost in Beijing. There is truly no better way to get to know a city. Besides, you won’t be lost for long as your convenient GPS will immediately guide you safely home. Start in Sanlitun, perhaps the most well-known of Beijing’s shopping areas, and continue towards CBD which is only a short trip south. CBD and Sanlitun are the best places to shop and indulge in delicious food in Beijing. You can explore the boutiques at Taikoo Li, U Town Mall, China World Mall, and many more. Or you can take the day to become a full-blown foodie with your mates. You can find restaurants offering all kinds of cuisines here – from all around China, to Thai, Japanese, Italian, and German.

Beijing’s Art Scene
New art gallery you want to visit? Brilliant! Many galleries are clustered around each other in 798, which is the perfect place to begin. This is the most famous spot to experience contemporary art in the city. From there, it’s 4 km by bike to Caochangdi, another famous (though quickly gentrifying) area for galleries. If you live in Shunyi, you can journey on to the Red Brick Art Museum in the northeast of Beijing, another 5.5 km ride. Here, there is a very picturesque garden for taking pictures with your friends. Spend as much time as you want perusing the different exhibitions. There is no need to adhere to any schedule (although I’d recommend checking opening and closing times beforehand to avoid mishaps). You can spend many days exploring Beijing’s vibrant art scene on your bike.

Old Beijing
Want to see famous landmarks, but don’t want to spend all day waiting in lengthy queues? Ride west along Chang’an Avenue, and you’re guaranteed the best views of Tiananmen Square. Continue through the historic parts of Beijing with its traditional hutongs to get that truly perfect Instagram post. From here, it’s not a long ride to hit up major tourist hotspots, like Jingshan Park or the Lama Temple. Park your bike and venture down Nanluoguxiang, or explore the more secluded hipster spots in Beijing’s hutongs. Enjoy the scenic route? Continue along Hepingli West Street until you reach the Temple of Earth (Ditan Park). Cycling through old Beijing will give you a different view of the city, and allow you to enjoy how the new weaves itself into the older parts of the city. Turn on a tracking app to record how far you managed to cycle that day if you want to impress your friends with your newfound athleticism.

Furthermore, the exercise provided by riding your bike is also a great stress reliever – particularly for teenagers. Let’s face it, we have all pulled stressful all-nighters, trying to put the finishing touches to our physics projects, English papers, and history presentations. Biking is a great way to deal with such stress. So if you have a minute, grab some friends and experience the city on two wheels, powered only by your own willpower and, of course, your insatiable thirst for adventure.

Photo: Deborah Zand
A complete version of this article appears on p49-52 of the beijingkids September 2018 Teen Takeover issue.

Transportation in Beijing is convenient and relatively cheap if you can get around the traffic. However, newcomers might shy from hailing taxis on their own due to the language barrier (the prospect of having to speak Mandarin), or a fear of being rejected by a cabbie (due to his fear of having to speak English). Fortunately, ride-hailing and rental transport mobile apps have become more commonplace. In this guide, we outline the basics of the most foreigner-friendly private ride-hailing and bike rental apps, as well as tips for a more pleasant subway journey in Beijing.

Ride Hailing

神州专车 (Shénzhōu zhuān chē)

Different from Didi, 神州专车 is better known for its car-renting services and long-distance commuting, although it also provides a ride-hailing service like Didi’s. It accepts booking in advance; for example, if your flight is landing in three hours, you can book a pick-up via the app according to your schedule. Its renting service means you can rent a car with a professional driver for a specific time period. It can be a lifesaver when you’re moving cities with lots of belongings, especially with pets.

Didi (滴滴出行 dī dī chū xíng)

Didi provides a ride-hailing service within and outside China. To book a ride, you need to choose your pick-up and drop-off locations. You can add and save frequent destinations for future rides. Once matched with a driver, you will be able to see information about the driver and the vehicle. You can also check the route your driver takes to pick you up, as well as the driver’s estimated time of arrival, and real-time traffic conditions. An in-app messaging feature allows easy communication with your driver. Instant IM translation between English and Chinese is also available when you use the feature. Pay directly through the in-app payment (Alipay, WeChat pay, and credit cards work) feature or in cash (taxi only).

Bike-Sharing

Bike-sharing apps have taken Beijing roads by storm, having become one of the most convenient ways to commute in the city. For only a minimal rent, you can just scan a QR code on a bike then go. After two years of fierce competition, currently two bike-sharing companies are leading the market—Mobike and Ofo.

Mobike and Ofo

Ride Like a Local

Besides ride-hailing and bike-sharing, the Beijing Subway might be your best bet for commuting. Even though it gets super crowded during peak hours, it’s still a better choice than taking a taxi, with a high risk of traffic jams. That’s why Metro China Subway is a godsend. It’s a very helpful app which provides an accurate Metro map and information, and route planning including route, time and fare information. No network connection is needed.
Also, when riding buses or taking the subway, you need an 一卡通 (yīkǎtōng), a public transportation smart card. Scan the QR code for more on the Yīkǎtōng card, and on how to ride a bus or take the subway like a local.

This article appeared on p50-51 of the beijingkids July 2018 Home & Relocation Guide issue.

China’s booming bike-sharing industry takes its credit for a potential solution to congested roads and the pollution, as well as the convenience of people’s life, but as it grown problems have emerged.

Earlier today, news of the bust of Bluegogo and Coolqi, two of the most popular bike-share brands, has reopened the discussion about the reliability of the bike-sharing scheme in the country.

Several news outlets have reported that key people in Bluegogo are nowhere to be found, with CEO Li Gang being absent in China for months. TechNode reported that the bike-share company’s vice president and head of market operation department Hu Yufei has been gone from the company for several months as well.

Meanwhile, Coolqi’s head office in Tongzhou has been stormed by users wanting to get their deposits back. The app, which popularized “tuhao” gold bikes had 1.5 million registered users, while Bluegogo had 6.26 million.

Paying deposits has been one of the most contentious issues in the bike-sharing industry. Other major players have introduced schemes that let users ride without a deposit fee. On Alipay for example, ofo, Ubike, You’an, and Yibu are available and deposit-free. Mobike can be directly accessed on WeChat wallet without a deposit, but the renting fees are a bit higher.

Shared bikes have been seen as a public epidemic, disrupting traffic and blocking access roads. Earlier this year, authorities in Beijing cracked down on bike-sharing, imposed bans, and designated parking zones to curb users from parking anywhere.

Photos: Omaha.com, hoodline.com

Yan Chang parked by yet another cluster of abandoned shared bikes, then set to work piling them one by one on the back of his scooter. His employer, ofo, had tasked him with arranging any of their cycles that had been strewn about in the Hujialou area into a neat row near the subway station. Necessary as the job has become, to ensure pedestrians and cars aren’t completely impeded in this era of rampant shared bike usage, Yan couldn’t deny that the work was arduous. When asked, he gestured at one bike that had been left smack in the middle of a sidewalk, and said careless riders like that were giving him too much “mafan.”

Yet employees like Yan, and especially baoan security guards saddled with even stricter rules about keeping their buildings’ parking lots clean, may very well rejoice at recent news from Singapore’s Today newspaperabout new technology and laws designed to keep riders from parking in such a haphazard fashion through penalties and other means. In lieu of these government-imposed measures, ofo users in Singapore “who park indiscriminately will get an app notification and the operator said it would provide details on penalties closer to the end of the year. It replaced its mandatory bike deposit and introduced a credit system that rewards good behavior and penalizes bad behavior, and is likely to develop the programme further,” according to Today. The article went on to say that some other companies already use technology called geo-fencing to “manage indiscriminate parking, and users are alerted through beeping noises and app notifications if they do not park in designated spaces” that consist of painted squares on the sidewalk, often near subway stations, popular attractions, and other major hubs.

While news about such measures, and photos of freshly painted designated parking spaces in a few scant parts of Beijing, surfaced this past spring, and before Beijing authorities drafted regulations for consultation on April 21, such efforts have since amounted to very little, especially compared to what is taking place in Singapore. Indeed, shared bikes are still littered in randomly obtrusive clusters across the capital. Seeing firmer measures put forth and backed by the municipal government in Singapore may seem promising to detractors of the shared bike craze. But some of the staunchest regular users of ofo, Mobike, and other such cycles question how companies might even remain popular if riders aren’t free to park where they please.

Sadly, the only shared cyclist using the designated spaces was me, and only for the purposes of writing blog, when the spaces were freshly painted this past spring

Vincent Tang Yue, global PR manager at ofo, says the company is well aware of such gripes on both sides of Beijing’s Great Shared Bike Debate. He says, “Currently, we prefer a credit system that rewards good behavior and penalizes bad behavior in overseas markets and will develop the program further. The details are yet to be finalized and might vary from country to country.”

Despite such hurdles, Yue is optimistic about ofo’s prospects in Beijing, even though the Chinese capital has yet to show Singapore’s gumption in addressing the parking issue. He says: “The bike-sharing practice and industry is growing very fast and has greatly benefited urban transportation and the environment. ofo has always wanted to contribute to every city we enter, and the best solution might be different from city to city.”

One of SIngapore’s designated shared bike spaces, which will be enforced via GPS, app penalties, and other measures enacted by local officials

If such stricter measures were to be enacted in Beijing, ofo’s chief competitor, Mobike, would be quick to follow suit. At least that’s what the company’s head of global partnerships, Florian Bohnert, says of the features like geo-fencing, credit systems, notifications, and designated parking areas that Mobike has developed and used to a greater degree in other locales. He adds: “Mobike invented geo-fencing for dockless shared bikes when it launched in April 2016 in China. Therefore, we’re very happy to work hand-in-hand with local governments to further develop the service within a framework of safety and reliability.”

Such eager compliance with any forthcoming parking crackdowns may very well be appreciated by detractors, avid Mobike rider Billy Chan says he has concerns about how rocky that transition might be. He says: “I don’t know how well users will accept any form of forced docking system (virtual or not), now that they’ve been trained on being able to pick up and drop off their bikes from anywhere and anytime.”

Designated parking spots were made for Mobike users in Shijingshan this past spring, but little incentive was given for riders to use them

But even if Beijing officials turn out not to be as assertive as their Singaporean counterparts in this regard, it might not matter. That’s because the proverbial “Wild West” of free-range shared bike parking is already being somewhat tamed in the Chinese capital, according to John Artman, editor-in-chief at business and IT news outlet TechNode. He says: “‘Being able to drop them off anywhere’ is quickly fading already as property management companies and city management become more strict about where they allow bike traffic and bike parking,”

However, if more rigid, Singaporean-style regulations are enacted, Artman said: “I can definitely see a popular backlash occurring online as people take to Weibo and WeChat to complain about initial bugs and problems, but I think these complaints will fade as the systems get better and people learn to park responsibly.”

Can Beijing shared bike users become more contentious?

Joffe agrees, and believes that shared bike riders shouldn’t be dismissed as ill-equipped to follow stricter parking rules. On the contrary, he believes “many users were initially shocked by the fact they could just drop their bike anywhere. It just didn’t feel normal. Now it will make more sense.” What’s more, he sees benefits in this early, lax stage of shared bike usage, because it offered enough convenience to get users hooked. “Going through that initial ‘free for all’ phase had the benefit of educating users with the first step: payment and operation. The next step of parking is easy to learn, in comparison.”

Joffe not only welcomes such stricter parking regulations in Beijing, he thinks they will likely come to pass. He says: “It is not surprising that regulations would come into effect in Singapore to make shared bikes a sustainable transportation option. If the first phase of deployment was a “land grab” in terms of users, now real land will be necessary to ensure proper usage.”

Photos: Arvi Lefevre, Kyle Mullin, Today, the Beijinger

This post comes courtesy of our content partners at TechNode.

Say goodbye to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and welcome your new favorite apps. Here is everything you will need to navigate your China life.

1. Communication: WeChat (微信)

The app to rule them all, WeChat is the very definition of indispensable in China. This is where you will connect with your friends, communicate with your boss (forget emails), make business deals, flirt, and much more. Just don’t expect too much privacy!

WeChat also makes shopping easier. Its wallet function, WeChat Pay, is so widespread that many are already speculating that China could go completely cashless. You can even use it to pay your bus fare or while traveling abroad.

Unfortunately, the mini apps WeChat are well-known for not working so well in the English version, but the app has other great features, including a myriad of subscription accounts to keep you updated on events and news. Go forth into the world and scan those QR codes!

Available in English
On Apple
On Android

2. Takeout delivery: Ele.me (饿了么) / Baidu Waimai (百度外卖)

We’ve got your communication needs settled, now it’s time for some food. Food delivery in China is an impressively dynamic and tech-driven industry which means that users have a variety of choices. Both Baidu Waimai and Ele.me also offer supermarket delivery (京东到家 is great for that, too) – you will never have to leave your home again!

English-friendly alternative: Jinshisong (锦食送) app, also known as JSS.
On Apple: Ele.me, Baidu Waimai
On Android: Ele.me, Baidu Waimai

3. Calling a car: DiDi (滴滴出行)

Your plan for staying home forever failed? Worry not, DiDi has your back. The ride-hailing app that swallowed Uber China offers regular taxis, a private car service called Premier, and the Express option for carpooling.

Available in English
On Apple
On Android

4. Renting a bike: ofo (小黄车) / Mobike (摩拜单车)

So you tried to get a taxi and got stuck in one of those traffic jams of epic proportions for which Chinese cities are known? Enter bike rental apps. Mobike and Ofo are the biggest players on the market but there are many other options such as Bluegogo and these dazzling golden bikes equipped with phone charging.

Ofo’s partnership with DiDi means that users can also search for bikes using DiDi’s app. Mobike has a similar deal with a ride-hailing company called Shouqi (首汽租车) but the cities covered by the partnership is still limited. The company also has a mini app integrated with WeChat’s wallet.

Available in English
On Apple: Ofo, Mobike
On Android: Ofo, Mobike

5. Paying for stuff: Alipay (支付宝)

To use all of most of these great apps, you will need to set up your Alipay wallet. The difference between Alipay and its arch-nemesis WeChat Pay is that the former one is a standalone app. Among other features, Alipay offers bill payments, hospital registration, and even international money transfers. Unfortunately, the last option is available only to Chinese nationals or foreigners with a Chinese green card.

Alipay also comes with integrated services like Taobao, Airbnb, and Uber and right now it is testing its own mini-apps.

Available in English
On Apple
On Android

6. Buying anything you could possibly want: Taobao (淘宝)

The king of shopping in China, its majesty Taobao, offers everything from fully functional airplanes to temporary boyfriends. One awesome feature Taobao offers is image search. Just take a photo of the product you want, upload it on the app and give a snarky laugh to the lady at the market who wanted to sell you the same item for triple the price.

While Taobao mostly connects resellers and customers, it’s sister site Tmall hosts brands’ official online stores which is why it is a better solution for searching for authentic products. For quality electronics, check out JD’s app.

English friendly alternative: Baopals website
On Apple
On Android

7. Travelling: Ctrip / Qunar (去哪儿)

China has so many great places to visit, your bucket list is likely to continually expand. To help you find the best prices for train and plane tickets both for China and abroad, check out Ctrip and Qunar. The apps are practically identical, which could be explained by the fact that the two companies are actually partners. Both of them work with Airbnb’s biggest rival in China, Tujia.

Thanks to its flight tracking feature Fliggy (飞猪), it’s a great app for frequent travelers which are far too familiar with China’s infamous plane delays.

Available in English: Yes for Qunar, Ctrip only the website
On Apple: Ctrip, Qunar
On Android: Ctrip, Qunar

8. Finding new restaurants: Dazhong Dianping (大众点评)

This hair salon in Shanghai run by post-90s generation went viral on Dazhong Dianping

Not a big fan of food poisoning? Neither are we, which is why Dazhong Dianping, the largest restaurant review app in China, comes in handy. This Chinese version of Yelp also offers user-generated reviews of beauty salons, gyms, VR arcades, and more. Many businesses offer online reservations and even coupons and vouchers for discounts. Some of them have even gone viral through the app.

Not available in English
On Apple
On Android

9. Finding events: Huodongxing (活动行)

With 800,000 events and around 4 million tickets sold last year, Huodongxing is the largest ticketing platform in China. The Eventbrite-like platform focuses on professional and networking events, including big conferences.

For live music, theatre, and entertainment, check out Showstart (秀动) and for movies, there is Gewara (格瓦拉) which for some reason found it appropriate to brand itself with a cutesy mascot of Che Guevarra.

English friendly alternative: WeChat subscription accounts such as Networking Matters.
On Apple
On Android

10. Finding a home: Ziroom (自如)

Apartment hunting in China’s crowded cities can be a somewhat traumatic experience. As PTSD prevention, Ziroom offers long-term serviced apartments that are becoming increasingly popular among young professionals. Unlike most agencies, Ziroom offers monthly rent payments and bill payment directly through the app. A Ziroom apartment could be the answer to your woes. Unless you find a dead body in it.

Another option is 58 Home (58同城) which is a classic apartment-listing app.

Not available in English
On Apple
On Android

11. Listening to music: Xiami (虾米)

A great thing about Chinese music apps is that streaming is free and even paid content is usually inexpensive. Xiami has a great selection of foreign and local artists. In recent years, the service has decided to add more niche content by featuring emerging musicians with original music.

Xiami is just one of the great apps available on the market and so far the only one which is partially translated into English. Check out other great Chinese music apps.

Available in English
On Apple
On Android

12. Watching TV: iQiyi (爱奇艺)

The Netflix of China, iQiyi is the main stop for streaming movies, TV shows, and other video content. Much like music streaming services, video streaming in China comes with great prices and a wealth of content. Much like its American peers, iQiyi is also turning to original content production.

For those of you who are missing YouTube too much, Youku Tudou (优酷土豆) is an option to try.

Not available in English
On Apple
On Android

13. Finding your way: Amap (高德地图)

To help you find your date or anything else for that matter, you’re going to need a good map. Amap works as a great replacement to Google Maps and it will be a crucial addition to many apps on this list that rely on location-based services.

Not available in English
On Apple
On Android

14. Being understood: Pleco / Baidu Translate (百度翻译)

Finally, one more truly indispensable app every visitor to China needs is a good dictionary. Pleco is not only one of the best Chinese-English dictionaries available, it also has a free feature called Screen Reader which conveniently enables you to translate Chinese characters in any app on your phone. Pleco also offers useful add-ons such as the Optical Character Reader that lets you scan Chinese texts.

Ever wonder what are all those strange SMS messages you keep receiving from unknown numbers? Baidu Translate will finally reveal the mystery (spoiler: it’s train ticket and “fapiao” scalpers, sometimes pimps).

Available in English
On Apple: Pleco, Baidu Translate
On Android: Pleco, Baidu Translate

Images: Yukawanet, TechNode, Zirom, The Rap of China, courtesy of the apps

The bike-sharing phenomenon sweeping across China is facing a big legal challenge after the death of a boy in Shanghai last March. Ofo, one of the major players in the industry, has been sued by the victim’s family for a RMB 8.78 million (USD 1.27 million) lawsuit, in the first Chinese case of a death of a minor using shared bikes.

China Youth Daily reported that the 11-year-old victim had been riding an Ofo bike along with three friends before he was struck and run over by a bus in an intersection on March 26. The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau determined that the victim “bore primary responsibility” as he and his underage companions managed to unlock Ofo bikes and took the wrong side of the road.

According to Chinese traffic rules, children below 12 years old are forbidden to bike on public roads. The family lawyer, however, argued that Ofo is still responsible for the incident as its bikes are often left in public places, and that its bikes do not have a system that prohibits underage users. He also said the mechanical password locks are not sufficient, thus proving a safety risk.

Aside from the multi-million RMB claim, the victim’s family also asked a local court to order Ofo to recall all of its bike units and install additional child-safe locks.

The hearing date for the case is yet to be announced. Ofo has yet to respond to the claim. The bike-share company recently raised USD 700 million (RMB 4.82 billion) in a fresh funding round from investors including e-commerce giant Alibaba. American news channel CNBC reported in April that Ofo is worth more than USD 2 billion (RMB 13.77 billion), quoting CEO Dai Wei as saying.

The incident has become a widely-discussed topic across many social media networks in China, with some people arguing why the family sued Ofo when authorities determined the victim was at fault. Other people noted that Ofo’s system needs to be changed so as to prevent bike theft and unsupervised use by minors.

The incident puts another spotlight to the bane of bike-share in China. In Beijing, authorities have implemented plans and bans to curb users from parking anywhere. Dongcheng District, which banned cycle parking in as many as 600 public spaces, has recently implemented several designated parking zones in the Chongwenmen neighborhood.

These zones have sensors that can detect the presence of a nearby shared bike via its GPS tracker. The catch: there’s still no punishment for offenders, a member of Dongcheng’s traffic association admitted.

In other areas of the city, share bikes are considered an “epidemic” and a public nuisance as many of them are blocking sidewalks and pathways for the visually-impaired, as well as overwhelming bus stations.

Photos: www.fredicksburg.com, China Youth Daily, BJ News

More stories by this author here.
Email: andypenafuerte@beijing-kids.com
Instagram: @coolkidandy

If you haven’t seen the explosion of ‘bike-sharing’ in Beijing over the past year, you might as well have been living under a rock. These public bicycles can be seen scattered along sidewalks, and sometimes even roads, in practically every crevice of the city. The convenience of these cheap bikes has transformed the city over the past year, becoming a very popular mode of transport for both Beijing locals and expats.

These companies have a “park anywhere” policy, which can be a blessing and a curse. While this policy does increase the chances of finding a bike in one’s immediate vicinity, it also allows people to park the bikes in areas of their choosing. Consequently, bikes are sometimes parked in very remote areas, where they are not accessible to the public, which is one of the key features of the whole “bike-sharing” concept. It then just becomes a wasted vehicle.

And that’s when the so called “Bike Hunters” come to the rescue. These workers begin their day by signing into an app specific to the company they work for, whether that be Ofo, Mobike, or one of the many other bike-sharing businesses in Beijing. The app’s job is to detect the locations of bicycles for the company, and provides a GPS feature that directs the bike hunters to the bikes’ exact spot.

While most people associate the bike hunters’ job as just relocating them to more popular locations, they also do a lot more work than we may realize. Because the “park anywhere” policy is so lenient, someone people go to extreme measures in order to ensure that they can always have a public bicycle near them. Specific cases of vandalism include people hiding them in their homes or using their personal locks to stop others from using them. The bike hunters will then pinpoint the locations of these bikes and record the crime. Illegally parked bicycles are considered theft, and is reported to the police.

Another important job of the bike hunters is detecting damaged bikes. Because people are allowed to deposit the bikes anywhere when they are done using them, the bikes become extremely susceptible to damage, especially when these bikes are often just piled on top of each other. The bike hunters will either fix them on their own if the problem is small, or transport them to the company repair center. They also use the opportunity to report frequent malfunctions to the bike company’s design team so they can work to create a more functional model.

As easy as it is to just place the bikes wherever we please, it’s important to be mindful of the ways in which our actions can cause these people more work. Let’s keep this citywide phenomenon alive for as long as possible.

Photos: http://img.caixin.com/, chinamoneynetwork.com

This article is written by Chloe Sandifer-Stech from Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing).

Interested in writing for beijingkids? Email us at webeditor@beijing-kids.com or visit our Student Correspondents Program main page for more information.