Two months into the job, Huang says he's seen it all.
By that, Huang, a smiling man in his late 40s who prefers to be called Lao Huang, doesn't mean that he's conquered all the details of his work. On the contrary, his job is extremely simple: putting misplaced shared bikes into designated docking stations in Beijing. Instead, Huang means he's seen some of the worst manners and bad behavior of shared bike users.
"If you are on my job for one day, or even just a few hours, you will see all kinds of people and behavior. It's not a pretty sight," Huang told the Global Times on Saturday. "In these big cities, people don't seem to care much about others."
Huang's attitude is just one side of the blame game taking place in many Chinese cities as people try to figure out what went wrong in the bike-sharing sector, which has been hailed as the future of urban commuting and a highlight of the country's drive for innovation and the sharing economy.
Problems such as misplacement of bikes, safety and overcapacity at bicycle manufacturers have been exacerbated and caused serious headaches for governments, companies, users and residents after scores of technology start-ups rushed into the business - backed by vast amounts of funding - and flooded city streets with millions of colorful bikes.
There were more than 16 million shared bikes from nearly 70 providers across the country at the end of July, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said in August. Just in Beijing, the number of bikes jumped from 700,000 in April to 2.35 million as of September, according to media reports.
The rapid rise of bike numbers has drawn strong criticism from some residents, who claim that their sidewalks, public areas, bus and subway stations have been buried under bicycles. Faced with regulatory tightening amid a growing tide of criticism about the problems their bicycles are causing, providers like Mobike and ofo have hired thousands of workers to organize their bikes.
Bad manners, bad attitudes
Huang is among thousands of people hired to manage the bikes. He moved to Beijing from his hometown of Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province in July to take the job after a friend sent him a posting from ofo. He has no complaints about working more than 12 hours a day for just 150 yuan ($23), but he's fed up with bike users' bad manners.
"I used to tell people to not leave the bikes on the streets, but they just completely ignored me. They pretended they didn't even see me. So now I just go quietly to move the bikes after the riders lock them and leave," said Huang, who was initially reluctant to be interviewed. "There is nothing you can do about it."
"It's definitely a man-made problem," agreed a bike manager at Mobike surnamed Zheng.
"People just don't follow rules. They all just want the easiest way for themselves," he told the Global Times on Saturday after moving a locked bike parked on a main street, making his way through jammed traffic filled with cars angrily honking their horns and yelling in bustling Sanlitun, one of Beijing's most crowded areas. "I get it. It's my job to do this and bike-sharing is beneficial for many people, including myself. But we can take a few extra seconds to find a good place to park," he argued.
Poor management, city planning
But for many frequent riders of shared bikes like Frances Lin, the problem is much bigger than just bad manners on the part of some users.
"I see so many bikes on the street but when I scan, almost one in every three has a problem. This is a management issue," Lin told the Global Times on Saturday.
Moreover, for the majority of the users, it's not that they are not willing to park the bikes in a designated place, it's that there are not enough such spaces, especially in some busy areas such as Sanlitun, Lin said.
Many users also complain about safety issues riding a shared bike in cities like Beijing. "There is a bike lane, but nobody cares. We are talking about a city where people drive in all directions as they wish," a Spanish tourist who only give his first name as Javier told the Global Times on Saturday.
Javier further noted that it was the idea that he can park anywhere that impressed him. "We have something similar in Barcelona, where I come from, but I didn't know you can leave the bikes anywhere you want. I find that very useful," he said.
As for the problems, Javier said this must be addressed by investment from the companies as well as government action.
Government responsibility
The government in particular should take more responsibility, according to Yang Tao, chairman of the Nanjing Institute of City and Transport Planning Co, and Chen Shidong, an expert at the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation at the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning agency.
"Both public opinion and [government'] measures have been focused more on the accountability of the companies and users. But the focus on government responsibility and implementation is insufficient," they wrote in a note sent to the Global Times by Yang on Sunday.
Officials at both the central and local government levels, although repeatedly noting the benefits of shared bikes, have moved to tighten regulations for the industry.
The MOT along with nine other central government agencies on August 3 released an industry guideline, in which the government reaffirmed support for the industry but focused on regulation, including oversight of parking management and optimizing urban transport systems.
Several local governments have taken more aggressive measures to curb the skyrocketing number of shared bikes. As of Monday, eight cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have ordered companies not to put any more bikes on the street, according to media reports.
But Yang and Chen argue that, while some measures are necessary, the overall focus should be on governments tackling longstanding problems such as illegal parking of automobiles and the weak infrastructure for urban bicycle users.
