Is this the golden age of China's share economy? In the last month, we’ve already seen things like shared beds, shared chairs, shared umbrellas, etc. The latest rentable item: shared strollers.
The shared strollers belong to a company named DeeMeng. Last week, these shared strollers first appeared at Century Park in Pudong. Just like many other shared items, the strollers are accessible through an app. After paying a deposit and scanning a QR code, the strollers are ready to go. Users get to choose whether to pay a deposit of RMB99 or not - RMB2 per hour with deposit and RMB4 per hour if not.
Many parents and elderly people have shown great interest in shared strollers, saying that it can save them a lot of trouble. “It’s quite convenient. With things like this, when I take my child out for a walk, I don’t have to bring a stroller anymore. If he gets tired, I can just rent one and let him sit on it,” says a parent.
At the same time, some parents can’t help but worry about the safety and health issues. “If I were to use it, I would clean the handles first. There’s a good chance that my kid catches hand-foot-mouth disease after touching them,” says another parent. “More than that, I think the strollers should add some protections such as a seat belt because children fall easily.”
But by August 20, the strollers seemed to have vanished. According to a staff member working at Century Park, these strollers were removed because they did not follow rules released by Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission for "no more new shared bikes."
“Shared strollers are not bikes,” says Wang Quan, COO of the company. “We will negotiate with related departments and re-launch more next week.”
So maybe it’s not the end for shared strollers... or is it?
[Images via Kankanews and Tecent News]
