The city authority will tighten checks and impose punishment on Didi Chuxing for ignoring rules and continuing to add more shared bikes to the Shenzhen market, according to a statement by the city’s transport commission yesterday.
The statement reiterates the government’s stance that all app-based bike operators, whether they already have or are planning to start a bike business in Shenzhen, are restricted from adding more bikes to Shenzhen’s streets, as the city is still working on rules to regulate shared-bike services.
However, after a meeting Saturday, Didi, the Qingju bike operator, which had put around 20,000 bikes on the streets overnight Saturday, ignored the requirement of the transport commission to withdraw bikes from the market. Instead it continued to put out more bikes Sunday and Monday. A video clip taken by a resident and broadcast on Guangdong TV showed a truck loaded with Qingju bikes being unloaded on the street opposite the Luohu International Trade Center at around 2:30 a.m. Monday. The workers unloaded the bikes in a swift manner and the truck soon disappeared into the darkness. At an entrance to Shenzhen Grand Theater Metro Station, an employee in a Didi vest was handing out brochures for the bike business. Riders could get two free two-hour rides each day by scanning a QR code.
In an announcement Monday, Didi said it was actively in contact with the city’s transport commission, hoping to find a solution so they can offer another green commuting choice to local residents.
“We have tightened checks on Qingju bikes operated by Didi in Nanshan, Futian and Longhua and will impose punishment on the operator according to the law,” the statement said.
Didi started its bike service Jan. 25 in Chengdu and then expanded to Dongguan, Nanchang, Hefei and Foshan.
At present there are 890,000 shared-bikes in Shenzhen. The commission said that bike-sharing enterprises are not allowed to add more bikes to the Shenzhen market before the government completes research and standardizes the market.
