The singer Katie Melua sang in 2005 about “Nine million bicycles in Beijing”, inspired by her visit to Beijing with her manager back then. Now, in 2017, China has become the number one car-sales country in the world. People prefer to go by car rather than by bike or on foot.
However, with rising awareness of go green and government support on start-up companies providing a more environmental friendly transport solution, bike-sharing has become more and more popular. Big cities are slowly turning into colorful places with blue, orange and yellow bikes.
We at Psyma China have conducted an online survey on WeChat, asking netizens about their general opinion about their experiences and usage habits with bike-sharing. In total, we were able to collect 734 validly filled questionnaires.
Usage Experience
78% of the respondents have tried bike sharing at least once. Car owners use this way of transportation less often than non-owners. However, the destinations are about the same for both groups. The most often used pick up spots for bikes are somewhere near home, the company or subway station for both owners and non-owners.
Most people use the bike for “the last mile” between the subway station and the company or home. Generally, bikes are more suitable for short distance trips inside a big city. For longer distance, carsare more preferred.
The most mentioned advantages of bike-sharing derive from the convenience of being a rental bike, where you can rent and return the bike anytime at any place without a service center or any registration on paper. This way, people save time on the renting process and the availability of bikes is higher than to have to rent them at certain stores.
The most mentioned disadvantages of bike-sharing are about the renting process rather than about the bike itself. Online processes can be tricky for older generations, since they are not as technical savvy as the younger ones. Also, the safety issue is a big concern. It is stated in the regulations that children younger than 12 years old are not allowed to use the bike. However, the registration only requires a deposit and the ID check will also be done online. Technically there is no strict supervision of who is the actual user of the bike.
In general, more female respondents have participated in the survey. And over half of the total respondents are car owners. The majority of the respondents are under 40, partly due to the survey platform (WeChat/Online).
Next week, we will continue to share our survey results of e-hailing.
Stay tuned and contact us for any comments.
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