Public bike rentals in Dongcheng and Chaoyang districts began accepting applications from residents yesterday. In response to the controversy over the restriction of card applications to Beijing residents during the trial phase, the official Weibo account of the Beijing Municipal Government Information Office, "Beijing Release," stated yesterday that due to the initial trial operation, the system can only recognize second-generation Beijing resident ID cards. Making the service available to all residents in Beijing is the next goal.
Beijing Release
Next step: open to everyone
Last Saturday, the first batch of 2,000 public bicycles in Beijing were put into use at 63 rental service stations in Dongcheng and Chaoyang districts. The two operators stated that during the trial phase, due to the limited number of bicycles available, applicants must hold a second-generation Beijing resident ID card.
"Do you need a Beijing hukou to rent a bicycle in Beijing?" After the report was published, many netizens commented, calling the policy "discriminatory" and "excluding outsiders."
Yesterday afternoon, "Beijing Release" explained the issue in a Weibo post. According to the operators, because it is still an initial trial operation, the system can currently only recognize second-generation Beijing resident ID cards, and even first-generation Beijing ID cards are not recognized. However, making the service available to all residents in Beijing is definitely the next goal.
Operators
No intention of excluding anyone
As the operator of the Chaoyang District public bicycle project, a representative from Great Wall Jindian Positioning & Control (Beijing) Co., Ltd. stated that from the initial intention and long-term goals of the public bicycle rental project, there is absolutely no intention of excluding non-locals, and it will definitely not be limited to people with Beijing household registration.
A representative from the Beijing Yanhongzhou Parking Management Office, which is responsible for the Dongcheng District public bicycle operations, explained that when residents apply for a card, a dedicated card reader device reads the information on both the ID card and the transportation card, creating a link in the backend to activate the card's rental function. However, during the current trial phase, the ID card readers are not fully functional, so non-Beijing ID cards cannot be recognized, and thus the information cannot be input into the system. That said, as the system's functions improve, all ID cards will eventually be recognizable.
■ Focus
Why are there restrictions on card applications during the trial phase?
Limited initial vehicle deployment and controlled card issuance to achieve optimal ratio
According to a representative from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport’s Transportation Management Bureau, during the initial trial phase of the public bicycle program, due to the limited number of vehicles deployed, operators will not issue a large number of cards at first and hope the public can understand. As more bicycles are deployed in the future, the number of cards issued will also gradually increase.
This means that even without household registration restrictions or system issues, the number of cards issued will not be very high, and may even be limited.
In response, a representative from Great Wall Jindian Positioning & Control (Beijing) Co., Ltd. stated that based on experiences in other cities with public bike rentals, the ideal ratio of bicycles to cards is about 1:5 to 1:10 to ensure good service quality. A lower ratio would lead to waste, while a higher ratio would compromise service standards.
"For example, if there are 1,000 bikes in Chaoyang and 100,000 cards are issued, most people won’t be able to get a bike," the representative said. Therefore, some restrictions on card issuance may be necessary initially to ensure good service quality.
The representative added that, for instance, after issuing several thousand cards, they might temporarily stop issuing more to observe how those users utilize the 1,000 bikes, then adjust the card issuance strategy based on usage data.
According to the plan, by October this year, the number of public bicycles in Dongcheng and Chaoyang districts will increase to 10,000. Within the year, Xicheng, Fengtai, Shijingshan, Tongzhou, Daxing, and Yizhuang districts will also establish public bicycle rental sites, with an expected 15,000 bikes deployed. By 2015, approximately 1,000 rental service stations will be built, bringing the total number of public bicycles to 50,000.
A representative from Great Wall Jindian said that by then, the service will be available to more people with better quality. Everyone says Hangzhou does a great job with its public bikes—though smaller than Beijing, Hangzhou already has over 60,000 bikes.
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