Mobike and Ofo salvage thousands of abandoned bikes from rivers

The environmental impact of China’s bike-sharing industry

Reading Time:2 minutes

Two bike-sharing companies in southern China have recovered more than 3,000 bicycles from rivers during clean-up operations. (Picture: ThePaper.cn)

Published: 5:00pm, 6 Jul 2018Updated: 8:30am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Much has been made of the benefits of bike-sharing: Reducing congestion, vehicle emissions, and fuel consumption -- which in turn lead to health benefits and financial savings.

But it also has a dirty secret: The environmental impact of the increasing number of bikes that are being abandoned.

The South China Morning Post reports that two Chinese bike-sharing firms have pulled more than 3,000 bikes out of rivers during clean-up operations in southern China.

Mobike found more than 1,000, while competitor Ofo recovered nearly 2,000.

(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, whose parent company Alibaba backs Ofo.)

Mobike told local media that it appears to be mostly the work of vandals.

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