This is why we can't have nice things.
In China, all of the bike-sharing providers operate in a similar way. Instead of requiring people to dock their bikes at a shared station, like what you see with New York's Citi Bike, the bikes in China don't need to be locked down. You find one with your app, ride it, and simply leave it by the curbside when you're done.
But bike-sharing companies in China have discovered one downside to this convenience: People destroying or dumping their bikes after use.
SEE ALSO:This Chinese bike-sharing firm has put 70,000 bicycles on the streets in just a monthThese pictures of a massive pile of bikes in Shenzhen say it all. Several bike-sharing startups are waging a fierce war for users in the tech town, and are flooding street corners with hundreds and thousands of bikes in the hopes of raising visibility.
Broken bicycles of Chinese bike-sharing services Mobike (orange), ofo (yellow) and Xiaoming Danche, or Xiaoming Bike (blue) are piled up next to Xiashan Park of Shenzhen city, south China's Guangdong province, 15 January 2017. More than 500 rented bicycles were found piled up next to Xiashan Park of Shenzhen city, Guangdong province on Sunday (15 January 2017). The bikes, belonging to several brands including Mobike and OfO, were mostly broken. The parts, including handlebars and baskets, were scattered on the ground.Local residents said the bikes were found about a week ago. Investigation is underway.Credit: Silent Hill/Imaginechina
A pedestrian walks past broken bicycles of Chinese bike-sharing services Mobike (orange), ofo (yellow) and Xiaoming Danche, or Xiaoming Bike (blue) piled up next to Xiashan Park of Shenzhen city, south China's Guangdong province, 15 January 2017. More than 500 rented bicycles were found piled up next to Xiashan Park of Shenzhen city, Guangdong province on Sunday (15 January 2017). The bikes, belonging to several brands including Mobike and OfO, were mostly broken. The parts, including handlebars and baskets, were scattered on the ground.Local residents said the bikes were found about a week ago. Investigation is underway.Credit: Silent Hill/Imaginechina
Broken bicycles of Chinese bike-sharing services Mobike (orange), ofo (yellow) and Xiaoming Danche, or Xiaoming Bike (blue) are piled up next to Xiashan Park of Shenzhen city, south China's Guangdong province, 15 January 2017. More than 500 rented bicycles were found piled up next to Xiashan Park of Shenzhen city, Guangdong province on Sunday (15 January 2017). The bikes, belonging to several brands including Mobike and OfO, were mostly broken. The parts, including handlebars and baskets, were scattered on the ground.Local residents said the bikes were found about a week ago. Investigation is underway.Credit: Silent Hill/ImaginechinaFlorian Bohnert, the head of international expansion at, Mobike, one of the bike providers affected, told Mashablethat the pile was created by a condo facility's management personnel.
"The Shenzhen government is most proactive in supporting us...This kind of behavior is isolated, but also criminal," he said.
But the official rules on bike-sharing outside of Shenzhen are less clear. In Nanjing on Tuesday, city police rounded up bikes that were left by the streets and walkways, blocking pedestrians. Authorities have thrown bikes in a corner or confiscated them entirely.
City police confiscating Mobike's bicycles.Credit: weibo
Police "clearing" the streets by dumping bikes in a corner.Credit: weibo
Credit: weiboAside from the public nuisance caused by inconsiderate users, vandalism and theft are also rife.
Sellers on secondhand sites hawk stolen bicycles from bike-sharing companies, and online marketplaces like Taobao have had to ban such sales.
People on social media have captured sightings of bikes thrown in rivers or even up in trees.
Credit: weibo
Credit: weiboThe bikes from Mobike, ofo and Bluegogo have GPS units and are trackable. Bohnert noted that the company tracks its inventory, including bikes that get stranded or dumped in a river, but didn't provide a figure on how many of Mobike's vehicles get destroyed.
He added that Mobike tries to offer users incentives to treat their bikes better, including ride credits to users for rescuing stranded bikes.
A user on a Mobike.Credit: Wei yao/ImaginechinaOutside of China, city authorities are wary of bike-sharers behaving badly, too.
San Francisco's lawmakers are reportedly livid about Bluegogo's plans to expand into the city,the San Francisco Examiner reported on Tuesday.
Authorities there learned of Bluegogo's plans to dump tens of thousands of its bikes on city streets, without having the proper permits to do so. They're reportedly planning legal action against the Chinese company, should Bluegogo's bikes start appearing on San Francisco streets.
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