Following the downfall of Bluegogo, the third-largest bike-sharing company in China, it seems that the war on shared bikes has come to an end for the time being. Nonetheless, the graveyards of these abandoned bikes remain an unresolved issue for the city.
Take a look at one of the graveyards on Haining Lu, where bikes of mixed brands are piled haphazardly like a scene from Transformers. According to Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, there are approximately ten thousand damaged and disused bikes at this site.
Image via Netease
Due to high housing prices for apartments on this road, netizens even whine about the occupation of space. “This is awkward. The bike graveyards are much more expensive than that of humans,” one netizen comments on Netease.
Although Shanghai’s traffic authority has recognized the problem and in co-operation with bike-sharing companies they are developing solutions, the challenge they face is quite extensive. After all, to recycle these wasted bikes requires considerable human resources and financial budget, while a significant number of companies who own the bikes have already collapsed, as reported by Shine.
Take Xiaoming Bikes as an example; the corporate announced bankruptcy a couple of days ago. As Kankanews reports, to date, the company owes more than RMB140 million fund in deposits to its users. Dispatching working crews to collect the dumped bikes is definitely out of the question due to the cost of managing such a significant undertaking.
Image via Kankanews
The phenomenon of bike graveyards is not exclusive to Shanghai. According to Netease, there are currently millions of deserted bikes across the country. So it seems it’s not only Shanghai that needs to implement strategies to manage this issue going forward.
[Title Image via Shine]
