Free bike policy a success story that's getting bigger
May 29, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Since the free rent bicycle policy was first applied by the Minhang government in July 2009, it has been highly valued by all citizens. It effectively helped solve the problem of "short-distance traffic" for Minhang residents.
The local government has so far established over 230 rental stations with more than 12,000 bicycles throughout the district, all under the control of the Minhang Construction and Traffic Committee.
All the bicycles were initially rented from Forever Bicycle Company and the administration purchased management services from Forever to establish the current system.
The average use of a single bicycle is now more than four times a day and the default rate is lower than 3 percent. Every week the system supplies the transport needs equivalent to over 200,000 people.
In order to satisfy the need for customer convenience, most renting stations are being established around Metro stations. As one part of the public traffic system, the bicycles are all usable for the entire 24 hours. The rent is totally free.
All Minhang citizens aged from 16-65 can apply for a rent card with their own ID card or other acceptable certificates in their communities. The service and the card is also free. So far, there have been 69,800 rent cards issued.
"I ride with a free bicycle to work every day," says a resident, surnamed Di, who lives in Jiangchuang Community. "Before the free bicycle system was implemented, I was often afraid of being late for work. But now it only takes me seven to eight minutes to get there."
To support the usage rate of the bicycles, the local government also established a system to encourage citizens to return them on time: each rent card starts with 100 points.
If a user returns the bicycle within two hours, he or she will get one point reward; if not, points will be deducted, depending on the return time. If points on a card reduced to nil, the card expires. In the past 10 months, there have been almost no cases of missing bicycles.
However, there are still not enough bicycles to service the entire district so the local administration is planning to expand the range and scale of the free-renting project, aiming to put 8,000 more new bicycles into rent this year.
The government is also working with the Minhang Passengers Management Association to improve service quality so more citizens are happy with it.
The local government has so far established over 230 rental stations with more than 12,000 bicycles throughout the district, all under the control of the Minhang Construction and Traffic Committee.
All the bicycles were initially rented from Forever Bicycle Company and the administration purchased management services from Forever to establish the current system.
The average use of a single bicycle is now more than four times a day and the default rate is lower than 3 percent. Every week the system supplies the transport needs equivalent to over 200,000 people.
In order to satisfy the need for customer convenience, most renting stations are being established around Metro stations. As one part of the public traffic system, the bicycles are all usable for the entire 24 hours. The rent is totally free.
All Minhang citizens aged from 16-65 can apply for a rent card with their own ID card or other acceptable certificates in their communities. The service and the card is also free. So far, there have been 69,800 rent cards issued.
"I ride with a free bicycle to work every day," says a resident, surnamed Di, who lives in Jiangchuang Community. "Before the free bicycle system was implemented, I was often afraid of being late for work. But now it only takes me seven to eight minutes to get there."
To support the usage rate of the bicycles, the local government also established a system to encourage citizens to return them on time: each rent card starts with 100 points.
If a user returns the bicycle within two hours, he or she will get one point reward; if not, points will be deducted, depending on the return time. If points on a card reduced to nil, the card expires. In the past 10 months, there have been almost no cases of missing bicycles.
However, there are still not enough bicycles to service the entire district so the local administration is planning to expand the range and scale of the free-renting project, aiming to put 8,000 more new bicycles into rent this year.
The government is also working with the Minhang Passengers Management Association to improve service quality so more citizens are happy with it.
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