The Covid-19 pandemic indirectly saved many bicycle-sharing services that are 'dying' in China

Over the past few years, the craze for bike-sharing services has cooled down in China. However, the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic forced people to restrict their movement, and the proportion of people using public transport dropped sharply. That's also when bike-sharing services have a chance to revive after normal business operations return.

According to Chinese media, returning workers chose to use bike-sharing services because it allowed them to move to one location and limit contact with many people in tight spaces.

An expert at the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even recommends this as the most suitable form of transportation during the epidemic season because it reduces the risk of spreading the disease in crowded places. The revival of carpooling services can be clearly seen at Wuhan Translation Center.

Hellobike, one of China's largest bike-sharing providers, said trips over 3km had tripled between January 22 and January 24, by the time Wuhan began its ordination. radiating the whole city. Meanwhile, the rate of trips around hospitals, supermarkets and markets in Wuhan increased by 5% compared to before the outbreak.

Hellobike said the trip longer than 3km has doubled nationwide compared to the same period last year.

Of course bike sharing services across China also benefit from the epidemic. Meituan, a food delivery company that also owns the shared bike service Mobike, said the number of trips longer than 3 km had doubled from a month earlier.

Didi, the company that owns the Qingju Bike service, said the number of trips has increased by more than 150% nationwide since early February.

Meituan shared, the number of people renting bicycles in the period from 9am to 12pm. But the rush hour for renting cars is mainly at 7 am-9pm.

Meanwhile, Hellobike users seem to be more interested in using bicycles to shop for groceries.

Of course the recent increase does not mean that users will return to sticking with bike-sharing services. However, according to Ben Cavender, an analyst at China Market Research Group, the bike-sharing service still has a chance to recover and develop in the long run.

As for the immediate future when the translation is over, people will return to their normal traveling habits.

Bicycle sharing service witnessed strong growth in the period of 2017-2018 before regressing in 2019 due to overtaking.

Sun Naiyue, an analyst at research firm Analysys in China, said the disease is a good opportunity for bike-sharing companies to prove their worth. The growth may not last as people will return to using public transport to save costs.

Sun added that the disease could make users pay more attention to bike sharing services. But Sun doesn't think there will be an explosion of bike-sharing services because of the lack of government support mechanisms.