Cleaner Greener China

On three separate occasions over the last few months I have spoken to, or worked with, a group in Shanghai who was looking at the opportunity of start up bike sharing programs across Shanghai, and to bring back the bike.

These conversations, it seems, are ones that are going on all over China, and there have been a number of announcements in the last couple of weeks to support that:

Kunming to roll out free public bicycles
Hangzhou Will Have 50,000 Bike-Share Bikes
Shanghai Launches Bike-Sharing Program

What makes these programs intersting is the fact that they are primarily focused on commuters (Hangzhou may have a more tourist population to draw from), and the anchors are being dropped around the metro stations.

Not a bad place.

However, in a meeting yesterday we began to expand on how could these programs be improved upon, and we looked at bus stations.

Using Shanghai as the example, workers who are going from their home to downtown to work would typically ride a bus (or bike) to the metro station, and then pop out near their office. Which for most of Shanghai’s grade A spaces means less than a kilometer of walking (Nanjing Road, Huai Hai, Xujia Hui, Lujiazui).  So, For those who are riding the bus to work, and particularly those who are making 3-4 transfers, perhaps the bike rental programs could be a way where commutes are cut down.  That by riding from one point on the bus line to a hub, or from one stop to a nearby metro, commuters could find a way to significantly save time on the morning/ evening commute.

A theory left to be seen as the middle class look more towards cars as a status symbol, but with the average commutes getting longer and the inconvenience of parking only getting more inconvenient, I am optomistic that these sharing programs will find success go forward.

It is just finding the right positioning, and targeting the right people in the right way.