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