On your bikes … testing the new breed of dockless cycle hire schemes
With Ofo and Mobike expanding rapidly across the UK, how do they compare with the more established Santander Cycles?
City dwellers will soon be unable to ignore the flood of dockless hire bikes hitting Britain’s streets, courtesy of two Chinese companies, Ofo and Mobike. Leeds is next in line, with Ofo placing 1,000 bikes in the city next month, Mobike is expanding around Manchester, while in London more and more boroughs are greeting the arrival of the yellow and red cycles.
The concept is simple: you need a smartphone and a credit card. Download the app, load your credit card details, hire a bike for a low fee (usually 50p, but more of that later), then locate it on a map on your phone. Once at the bike, scan the QR code to unlock it and you’re off. At your destination find somewhere sensible to leave it, then lock it – that’s it.
Related: Bike wars: Chinese bike-share giants wheel out UK expansion plans
Source: Guardian Transport
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