Beijing Requires Bike Share Operators to Provide Parking, Cease On-bike Advertising
Caixin.com, 9/15/17
The Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport recently released updated guidelines for shared bicycle services.
Compared to draft guidelines released by the commission in April 2017, the new guidelines mainly add two new regulations applying to services. First, enterprises should either own or lease sufficient bike parking space to meet their requirements for bicycle turnover and maintenance. Operators may not use public space for bicycle storage, pick up and return, or maintenance lot purposes. Second, deployed bicycles may not carry commercial advertisements.
Bike share operators Bikelock (Ofo) and Mobike have both deployed customized bicycles previously. Representatives for the companies commented that customized bicycles are completely legal, and do not constitute advertising of a commercial nature. The representatives said that to date, neither company has deployed bikes bearing commercial advertisements.
The new guidelines also retain stipulations announced previously in the draft guidelines, including requirements that operators purchase insurance on behalf of bicycle renters, that vehicles be equipped with satellite-based location systems, and that enterprises employ enough management staff to supervise their operations.
The Beijing government is currently in the process of formulating technology and service standards for shared bicycle systems, and technology guidelines for bicycle parking lots. These standards are expected to be released in the near future. The standards for shared bicycle systems are expected to include standards for bicycles used by bike sharing systems, enterprise operations and government monitoring platform standards, and standards for information system security. The bike parking lot standards will clarify the city's requirements for setting up bike parking areas, including their appearance and equipment standards.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see Beijing Transport Commission Unveils Draft Bike Sharing Regulations, MD 8/07/17 issue.
Keywords: wireless Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport Bikelock Ofo Mobike regulation bicycle sharing
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