Bike-sharing data could to be used to improve urban transport planning and cut congestion, leading firms tell tech conference

Bike-sharing start-ups are now generating multiple terabytes of data every day from the millions of daily riders in China and abroad.

And the data can be used in multiple scenarios, from not only contributing to the efficient running of their own businesses, but much wider economic benefits such as helping cities with urban planning.

That’s according to top executives from market leaders Mobike and Ofo, who were speaking at this week’s TechCrunch Shenzhen conference.

Mobike’s co-founder and chief technology officer Joe Xia told TechCrunch that the company’s bike-sharing data could easily be used to help local authorities with better public transport planning.

Currently, Xia said that in Beijing’s central business district, for instance, hundreds of users cycle to public transport hubs after work to take a bus home.

However, with the proliferation of bicycle sharing, companies such as his could work with local authorities to “decentralise” central public transport hubs, locating several hubs outside the city centre which can still be easily reached by cycling. This would help alleviate issues with public transport or congestion, he said.

Since March this year, Ofo has partnered with Alibaba-backed Ant Financial in its Sesame Credit credit-scoring system which scores Alipay users based on a complex algorithm that takes into account everything from shopping habits to whether they pay their bills on time.