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Bike-sharing services
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New | China orders bicycle sharers to be named, insured, and older than 12 years

Chinese authorities have released the first set of rules to regulate the country’s bicycle-sharing apps, where more than 30 companies have sprouted in less than a year.

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In this Thursday, March 23, 2017 photo, residents ride bicycles from bike-sharing company Ofo try to pedal through a sidewalk crowded with bicycles from the bike-sharing companies Ofo, Mobike and Bluegogo, near a bus stand in Beijing. Photo: AP
Li Taoin Shenzhen

China’s government has stepped into the country’s bicycle-sharing industry, issuing its first set of rules to instil discipline and best practice, after more than 30 companies sprouted in major cities in less than a year, creating a multibillion yuan industry with millions of users but with a multitude of social issues and annoyances.

Customers who use smartphone applications to rent bicycles must register their true identities, and can no longer be anonymous, according to guidelines issued Monday by the Ministry of Transport, which will be available for two weeks for public feedback.
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Users must be older than 12 years, and be insured for personal accidents and third-party liability. Any illegal acts committed, or “uncivilised behaviour” will be recorded and leave a mark on the user’s credit record, according to the rules.

Bicycle sharing services accessible via smartphones are all the rage in China, with at least 30 such apps across the country’s major and second-tier cities. Photo: SCMP/Eugene Tang
Bicycle sharing services accessible via smartphones are all the rage in China, with at least 30 such apps across the country’s major and second-tier cities. Photo: SCMP/Eugene Tang
The rules are the first since smartphone-enabled applications like Mobike, Ofo and another three dozen companies took the country by storm in late 2016, and filled city streets with a palette of
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multicoloured conveyances to distinguish their apps. They have been popular as so-called “last mile” transportation to subway stations and major transportation hubs, especially in notoriously congested urban centres like Beijing and Shanghai.

Mobike, whose orange bicycles share roughly equal dominance of Beijing’s streets with Ofo’s yellow conveyances, reportedly gets 20 million rides everyday.

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