As early as next week, China will reveal yet another PBS to its growing collection of bike sharing schemes already found in cities such as Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, among others. The most recent addition will debut in Chengdu, the capital city of the Sichuan province that is home to 11 million people and located roughly 1,000 miles southwest of Beijing. Sichuan Provincial standing committee member Chen Yi states that this is one of several forthcoming initiatives slated to help the Chinese metropolis become a “low carbon city.”
Chengdu has placed bike stations in a “honeycomb” arrangement around heavily frequented areas in the city center, close to transportation hubs, shopping malls, and tourist destinations. The hexagonal shape was chosen such that all stations are equidistant from the city center. Users can access each of them through the use of state ID or other electronic access cards.
Thus far there is no indication as to how Chengdu will handle theft or vandalism of the bikes, theft remaining a persistent problem in China’s cities. How the bikes in particular and the program at large will fare in Sichuan will certainly become clearer over the next couple of months as the program gets underway!
