Historically, China is very well known for bicycling
and I think there was a period of time, probably a decade or two ago
where the focus went to car culture
and now leaders are realizing its absolutely imposssible
to build enough roads for everyone to have a car
and so you need to look at alternative methods
and those alternative methods are like bus rapid transit, metro,
but none of them solve the last mile issue,
and that's where bike sharing comes in
The public bicycle system was incorporated as part of the public transportation system in Hangzhou.
Hangzhou is located in southeast China.
It is the the capital of Zhijiang Province.
It is also the economic, political, and cultural center.
It has a population of 6.77 million
Hangzhou Public Bicycle System trial operation
started on May 1, 2008.
It has 61 service points and 2,800 bicycles.
Now, we have 2,050 service points and 51,500 bicycles.
Average daily usages are about 240,000 trips with peaks of 320,000.
The distance between 2 service points in the main districts
is 200-300 meters and the distance between two service points in the suburbs is about 500-800 meters.
The bicycle is free during the first hour. We charge RMB1 for the 2nd hour
and RMB2 for the 3rd hour.
After that it's RMB3/hour.
Its very integrated with other forms of public transport, like the bus parking and the water taxis`
As a policy, if you have just used your card to pay the bus fee
you can use the bicycle for free for the first 90 minutes.
"When I go to work in the morning, I first choose the bus, then I choose the bike."
We are familiar with the traffic congestion in Hangzhou.
Bikes are speedy and very convenient.
There are many bike stations conveniently located
in residential complexes along major streets
I don't think there is anywhere in Hangzhou you could stand for more than a minute or two
where you wouldn't have a Hangzhou public bike go past you.
We often use both the public transit and
the public bikes on our daily commute.
It's very convenient that we can bike from the transit stop to the doorway of our workplace.
According to an authoritative survey in Hangzhou
the public bicycle system had the highest satisfaction
rate among all the projects in city development.
When I need to take my child to tutoring,
it's easier to use a bike because it is difficult to
find parking for cars.
"The public bicycle is more convenient for me, if I take my own bicycle it's not worth coming
because from my home to West Lake is very far, about more than 10 kilometers."
Now the bike return stations are everywhere.
There are two stations in the complex where I live.
There are many service points in Hangzhou.
People do not need to steal our bicycles
because they are basically free to use.
The people cherish the system and they
would not do anything to destroy it.
For an electric bike, I have to worry about where to park it,
and whether it's going to be stolen.
But I can put a lock on the public bike anywhere
and no one will steal it.
And, I don't need to return it to the same place.
Hangzhou Public Bicycle Company is an affiliate of
the Public Transportation Group.
The company is responsible for the construction, operation, and development
I don't live here.
I travel here mostly for business and sometimes I swing
by the West Lake and hang around a little.
They say it's convenient to rent a bike here, so here I am.
It's easy to ride a bike for sightseeing around West Lake.
I have been using the public bikes along with the public transit system.
Biking certainly is cheaper than taking the taxi,
and faster than walking.
It's convenient, and the rental is essentially free.
The scale of bike sharing in Hangzhou and in China in general
is just completely off the map of what we see in Europe and the Americas.
In my opinion, public bicycle systems will become an important
part of the public transportation systems in cities
Hangzhou Bicycle Company expects to grow to 175,000 bicycles by 2020.