Mobike's millions

In Shanghai, as in most major Chinese cities, hundreds of thousands of self-service bicycles decorate the city with their bright colors. Sometimes even too much. My curiosity piqued, I decided to be invited to the most important of these new bicycle companies without stations, Mobike.

Jason He, responsible for government relations, welcomes me. Without ceremony, in a simple t-shirt. Son of a diplomat, he studied at the University of Ottawa and belongs to this new generation of Chinese go-getters, open to the world and totally capitalist. He begins our interview by proudly announcing that I am one of the first 50 Mobike employees. The firm, which has barely four years of existence, already employs more than 3000 people in 16 countries.

The story of Mobike is a bit like that of China: phenomenal and international growth, capital that seems almost limitless and a planetary race to beat its competitors.

On a bank, in the evening, in the Pudong district, the brand new business district of Shanghai, Lujiazui, and its characteristic television tower, the Pearl of the Orient

On the other side, by day, the Bund, an emblematic boulevard in the city center of the megalopolis of almost 25 million inhabitants.

A competitive market

Jason He mentions that there are around XNUMX self-service bicycle services in Shanghai.

“A smart bike, app and lock is all a business needs to take its place in the market,” he says.

It is still necessary subsequently to be noticed by users. The color of the bike is essential. Orange stands out particularly in urban areas, according to tests carried out by Mobike in its early days. But even more crucial is the number of bikes available. Without a network of stations, there is theoretically no limit to the bicycles that a company can add to this open market. It is estimated that the number of bicycles currently available in the city of Shanghai alone (more than 24 million inhabitants) exceeds 2 million!

Mobike's first model of bikes cost close to $ 500. Faced with growing competition, the company began to produce a large quantity of a bicycle ten times cheaper. Today, it strives to distinguish itself with a third model whose quality and price are between the first two. All specialists in self-service bicycles without stations agree that the quality of the bicycles is essential. It is the unreliable bicycles that invade the dumps.

Mountains of bicycles

Due to all these competitors trying to flood the market with their respective models, the situation often quickly gets out of control, even preventing people from moving. There are several reports of Chinese cities having to clean the sidewalks of hundreds of thousands of new but unused bikes and, sadly, send them all to pile up in huge dumps. It is a recurring problem especially in the capital, Beijing.

Jason He explains to me that supply management is the responsibility of each city. And Shanghai is probably the most proactive of the lot in China. Each bike has its own nameplate, SIM card, GPS and small computer, and companies must regularly demonstrate the actual use of each of their bikes. A quota is allocated to each, which therefore seeks to differentiate itself, in particular by the quality of its frames and its customer service. Unused bicycles will then be withdrawn from circulation.

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See the rest of the article and more images on the magazine's website Vélo Mag, to which I collaborate regularly.