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What we're using: Getting back on the smart bike saddle
Bike rental services are spreading, going beyond early adopter epicenters like New York, London and Tokyo. And it's dockless systems that seem to be gaining both more traction and umbrage. Daniel Cooper explains why Ofo's bikesharing platform has totally replaced his own bike.
Uber, Lyft and others pledge to improve urban transportation
With the rise of ride-sharing, alternative fuels and ongoing developments in autonomous vehicle technology, transportation is in the midst of a rather drastic transformation, and how we get around in the not too distant future is likely to be very different than how we get around today. But with so many companies working towards a new transportation future, things could get a little messy. To address that concern, over a dozen companies have now committed to 10 Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities, a pledge initiated by Zipcar cofounder Robin Chase.
London is now awash with bike-sharing schemes
How many bike-sharing schemes does London need exactly? Well, at least five if you ask the companies behind such services. Today, Ofo comes to the capital, following a limited trial in Cambridge that began earlier this year and a launch in Oxford last month. Initially, the Chinese firm has dotted 200 bikes around the London Borough of Hackney. Yesterday, European outfit Urbo announced it was also arriving in London this month, putting 250 bikes on the streets of the Borough of Waltham Forest.
London is getting another dockless bike rental service
Competition over putting bums on the seats of rental bikes is hotting up in London, with Mobike today announcing an expansion of its dockless service into the capital in September. The company will start by parking 750 bikes around the London Borough of Ealing, primarily in Acton, and will add more as demand grows. This follows the launch of oBike in London, which operates an identical dockless bike rental scheme, just a few weeks ago.
oBike arrives in London with its dockless take on Boris bikes
Already this year we've seen two Chinese companies that run novel bike rental schemes expand into the UK, and now Singaporean firm oBike is throwing its chips into the pot, too. The startup has this week put 400 of its two-wheelers to work in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, despite the capital being home to over 11,000 for-hire 'Boris bikes.' Unlike these, though, oBikes don't require docking. Through the company's mobile app, you locate the nearest available pushbike on a map, unlock it by scanning its unique QR code, then leave it wherever you want when you're done.
Chinese bike rental giants eye the UK as next battleground
London's for-hire 'Boris bikes' have been cruising the capital's streets for nearly seven years now, while similar projects operate in other parts of the country. Two Chinese companies believe there's still room for more innovative bike rental schemes, however, and both are expanding outside of Asia to compete anew in the UK. One of these is Mobike, which today announced that its plans to move into Europe begin in Manchester and Salford, where 1,000 bikes will be available to hire starting on June 29th. The launch comes after rival Ofo began a UK pilot of its own in Cambridge two months ago, though it's a much more modest trial with only tens of bikes dotted around town.