Want to rent a public bike for your commute, only to find the station empty; finally make it to a return point, but there’s no dock available. Such frustrations can be maddening, especially during rush hour.
Public bikes, as part of the public transportation priority strategy, help solve the “last mile” problem. According to statistics, in 2013, Hangzhou’s public bike system recorded 103 million rentals, greatly facilitating citizens’ travel. However, various issues with renting and returning bikes have also gradually emerged.
Renting and returning bikes is genuinely not easy
At 8:30 a.m., the “Kaixuan Road 3099” public bike station was playing “empty city” — all bikes were rented out, leaving only about 20 locks.
Mr. Wang, who runs a glass shop nearby, told reporters that people had been coming to rent bikes since 6 a.m., and by 8 a.m., almost none were left. The reporter noticed there were three other bike stations nearby, but aside from two damaged bikes, none were available.
The reporter walked to the “Qingchun Middle School 2056” station on Fengqi Road. “Got lucky today; waited five minutes and someone returned a bike,” said Ms. Guo, 46. She lives in Dongyuan and works near Wulinmen. “After 5 p.m., I have to go to a nearby 24-hour station to return the bike. It’s such a hassle, adding half an hour to my trip,” she complained.
It is reported that Hangzhou has 3,067 public bike service points with 78,000 bikes in total, but only about 80 of them are staffed 24 hours a day.
After spending over an hour and visiting five rental points, around 9:30 a.m., the reporter finally got a bike at the “Qingchun Middle School 2056” station. Riding to the “Stadium Road 2254” station to return it, the reporter found it fully occupied and had to return the bike to the “Meidenggaoqiao 2032” 24-hour station 500 meters away.
“There are 20 to 30 rental points along Fengqi Road, Stadium Road, and Pingfeng Street. When people can’t return their bikes elsewhere, they all come here. During peak times, it’s like a battle,” said the station manager. 24-hour stations are usually set up at busy locations, with staff manually “loading bikes onto racks.” On the busiest days, up to 500 bikes are returned within an hour. But this process not only takes manpower but also wastes renters’ time. To regulate parking, the city management has drawn yellow lines outside the stations. “We don’t accept returns if bikes are parked outside the yellow lines,” the manager said somewhat helplessly.
When will bikes be universally rentable and returnable?
“It would be great if every bike station could offer 24-hour service,” some citizens suggested during interviews. Could Hangzhou follow the example of Huzhou, where every station allows 24-hour universal renting and returning? To find out, the reporter spoke with staff from the Hangzhou Public Bicycle Transportation Service Development Co., Ltd.
“Technically, setting up 24-hour stations is feasible. However, Hangzhou has numerous bike stations and a huge fleet, which currently presents challenges such as high operating costs, time needed for system monitoring and maintenance, and the need to balance and redistribute bikes at night. Implementation is quite difficult,” the staff explained. This year, the company plans to add or expand 80 service points and add or replace 3,000 bikes. More than 160 manned drop-off stations will be established in high-demand areas.
It is understood that the company will also adopt a management model combining manned services with “mobile” services to alleviate the difficulties of renting and returning bikes through fleet redistribution. However, whether redistribution can effectively solve the problem is questioned by industry insiders, who argue that road congestion during peak hours in urban areas makes vehicle redistribution inefficient and even adds to traffic pressure.
Currently, the company is also exploring a “guided diversion” return model, which involves deploying staff to patrol in addition to mobile redistribution. When a station is full, users are directed to alternative return points. But the guided diversion approach requires significant manpower and resources, and industry insiders believe it is difficult to implement.
Many citizens also suggest increasing rental points within residential communities and utilizing nearby shops and newspaper kiosks in office and commercial areas to provide more convenient return options.
Removing the docking barrier to solve the problem
Recently, China’s first “turnstile-style” rapid rent-and-return public bike station began trial operations at Hangzhou East Railway Station.
The reporter saw this new 260-square-meter public bike station near the east square of the railway station. The station resembles a small parking lot, enclosed by railings, with rows of bikes neatly parked inside. Entry and exit are divided into three lanes: one for renting, one for returning, and one for pedestrians.
To rent a bike, customers push a bike from the station area to the quick-rental dock, lightly place the lock on the right side of the bike against the sensing area. The system screen and voice prompt confirm the rental, the turnstile gate opens automatically, and the user pushes the bike away.
To return a bike, customers enter via the return lane, the sensing turnstile gate opens automatically, complete the same card-swiping process as when renting, park the bike in the designated area, and exit through the pedestrian lane.
Unlike existing bike stations, the new ones do not operate on a one-lock-per-bike basis. According to staff, the new stations only need four locks to serve all bikes, accommodating up to 400 to 500 bikes simultaneously. In the future, “turnstile-style” stations will be gradually expanded based on varying rental and return demands and site constraints in different parts of the main urban area.