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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ย. 2024
- Imagine walking outside and grabbing the first bicycle you see, and riding away. Then, once you reach your destination, simply abandoning it by the side of the road.
This might sound like a really benign version of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series. But in China, it’s a reality - and it’s totally legal (and very cheap), thanks to a host of new bike-sharing companies, led by Ofo.
And now, Ofo is gearing up to bring their business to Seattle.
Ofo’s bike-sharing model presents a unique solution to what city planners call the “last mile problem.” For example, even if your town has great trains and lots of bike docks, the process of actually getting from the train station or the bike dock to your house - that “last mile” - makes you not want to use public transportation at all.
That’s where Ofo sees an opportunity. But not everything is going as smoothly as they’ve hoped, especially now that they’re trying to expand into the U.S. VICE News traveled to Beijing to see how Ofo went from a tiny campus startup to a billion dollar valuation in under one year.
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WHAT Vice doesn't mention: OFO has a credit system that give you points for good behavior and docks you for bad behavior. China has realized the popularity of these bikes so have created places designated to park the bike. If you don't properly park the bike, damage the bike or other things, OFO will dock your points. At a certain point, you cannot borrow a bike. This creates some incentive for, at least in China, people to park their bikes properly and so forth
choiswimmer
Thank u...it's alot like UBER/LYFT ratings.
Same business model.
I mean, I've never noticed gaining or losing points. Though I don't exactly do crazy things with the bikes...
Used the bike in china. I park it anywhere and I haven't gotten doxed. Sure I don't damage or throw the bikes but I didn't park in designated spots.
They should have spaces to put them and if you didn't the money would continue to go out. That is a pretty good thing, you either do it right or you don't pick the bike
There's nothing wrong with that.
How is this program remotely like legal bike theft?
B Aware it's almost as if they just made up a sensational title to get people to watch the video. Because it's almost the exact opposite of legal bike theft it's almost like they want you to ride their bikes.
B Aware how is it not
Might be bad wording a better title would be "This New Bike-Sharing Program Might As Well Be Bike Theft"
B Aware it's click-bait.
I'm thinking of an excuse for
Vice. Will get back to you in 100yrs.
Edit: meant to say Vice, not Vox.
A year later in San Diego California and these OFO Bikes are Homeless people's mode of transportation, Thank You again for supporting our Non working class and giving them Hope for a better Free future. Awesome!
It's not sharing, it's renting.
People these days try to hype things by using different terms to describe new products. Things like airbnb, uber, have been described also as sharing/P2P (peer to peer), which is also BS. I guess "sharing" increases the appeal to "marxist"/far-lefty types. The only things that are/were really kind of sharing are "freecycle" and that whole thing of abandoning books around for other people to find, read, and abandon somewhere. "Book crossing".
My city has bike sharing docks, but they cost $7/hr to use. Ridiculous, I want china's 15 cents an hour bikes plz.
Move to China.
I'd rather just watch SerpentZA's videos th-cam.com/video/kdsb2wwn-7g/w-d-xo.html since he speaks the language and I don't but thanks for the suggestion. If I ride shared bikes for 10,000 hours I might just justify that expense.
Wow...in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana it costs 3 euros ($3.6) per YEAR, as long as your rides are shorter than an hour
Welcome to Beijing. You can enjoy bike riding everywhere.
Well, okay, but we're going to need to raise bike manufacturing up and convince the plant owners to take less profit. Then, since bike manufacturing increases, we'll need to allocate enough steel for it: but all that steel is being used for #1 Weapons, #2 Cars, #3 Oil-Related Industrial Equipment (this is a lot because Exxon Mobile is the largest company on earth), and #4 Non-Oil Related Industrial Equipment. Even if we were able to shift resources like that, which my country can't because I live in an extremely libertarian rooted Market System in the US, then you still aren't producing as much steel as you import and it becomes an issue of resources extraction incentivising that the taxpayers ultimately end up paying for.
China can do it because they're a communism with a higher than normal level of authority. Public Transportation methods are unfortunately falling apart in the current era of corrupt politics prioritizing profits over people.
that "Kid and Play" box haircut is distracting me
gotta be edgy to work at vice media lmao
I'd never use one of these things unless the city had plenty of dedicated bicycle paths. Getting around a little faster isn't worth the risk of being creamed by a truck or a bus.
Renderc4t
Good point, it works in NYC with citi bike.
Very popular.
you can die just as easily in a car my man
Don't let them drive on you! Problem solved.
since you have to scan with your phone to use one, they should track the user who just throws their bike in unauthorized spots and fine them
Relinquish
It works on merit/point system. Like uber n lyft...rates you, rates them... sane business model.
It works.
thats actually how it Works when you leave the Bike in a bad place you will get charged more (up to 10 € per 30 mins instead of the normal 1€ in my City for example)
Because nobody could just pick one up and put it somewhere else?
@@DozensOfViewers Why would you just pick up a locked bike, move it, and throw it somewhere else.
They do...
in Austin, Tx you gotta get the bikes and teturn them to a designated bike rack. otherwise the service will continue to charge your credit/debit card.
luis545x39 The blacks i see riding them in dc dont seem to care about being charged for some reason.
That’s not ofo.
the problem that needs to be solved first is, people suck.
then transportation.
sbfarmer 8 I'm not sure that even you understand just how perfectly correct and poignant that statement was.
The problem with allowing people to abandon a bike anywhere is that the rider will feel absolutely no sense of personal responsibility about where they park the bike. Hence the massive piles of discarded bikes.
Just make good parking = small discount and people will park them better
There apparently has been a massive issue with these bikes eating up all the 3 speed wheels. And here in North America, there haven't been many of the bikes that come with the 3 speed hubs, generally the Shimano Nexus ones, produced and available here. And with a culture of disposability in China, a lot of these bikes just end up in the dumps. It's honestly quite a huge waste these companies are as it is generally cheaper to produce a new bike than pay someone to fix the old ones.
In some countries these services get abused by people who simply remove bike parts and sell them XD
This is so cool. I live in sweden and our bikes get robbed quite a lot, this would be a lot cheaper (new bike in sweden atleast 100 euro and thne its old a.f)
I hope some company can offer the same price in Sweden, which should be about 1.2 Swedish Krona per hour. 1 dollar is just too expensive.
I think OFO requires about 120 krona deposit from each user in China
Why do your bikes get robbed alot?
vongunther not because of muslims bro
Im just asking. Do they not lock them up or put them in their apartments, backyards, sheds, whatever? Could I move there and open up a store that sells chain and padlocks? Apparently they need that.
OFO bikes are kinda messy looking and leaving them anywhere is kinda messy too...Have some sort of designated area of parking bikes!! Personally, I hate seeing a pile of bikes stacked on top of each other...
Charles Agnew
I HATE cars being left allover the place in shopping centers and on my street. Cars are in the way. OBNOXIOUS.
Charles Agnew Those designated places are hard to find and rarely places I'm trying get to.
Its hilarious how bad this system works in San Francisco. Check the SF subbreddit if you dont believe me.
link pls im lazy
Bail Bias ye
Wrong. San Francisco has a different bike sharing system than the one described here.
Timmy the Black Latino Drug Pusher: Oh goody more jobs for me now I can abandon being homeless and drug pushing cause this state owned Chinese Company is never going to get bankrupt even if Americans will throw the bike everywhere. It will give me and my buddies more jobs, bikes are simple and easy to learn to assemble besides half of the job is involves just roaming around searching for them thrown bikes.
So much I knew, sf's bike-sharing system is docks required.
I just want a girlfriend
You can also rent one of them off the street for a short time.
Big cities usually have bike racks pretty much everywhere already, so just log recent customers and let the city fine people who leave them laying around in inappropriate places.
tjwoosta yup...it's the future...so get over it.
tjwoosta Where do you live dude??? There are almost none here in Phoenix, AZ!!! You must live in a decent city, unlike Phoenix that is...
Can't imagine these bikes left in random metropolitan areas. They'd get jacked, salvaged for parts and sold at your local swap meet.
TITLE EXPLAINED: The reason it's legal bike theft is because you can leave the bike anywhere you want. At UC San Diego, for example, people were stuffing the bikes deep in the buildings or even in their apartments. Also, the app uses the honor system to charge you by the hour. You're supposed to put in the code for the bike, unlock it, start your trip, end your trip and then lock it. A lot of people would just immediately end their trip (so it'd be 0 hours) and just leave the bike unlocked forever. This meant literally anyone could just walk up to the bike and pick it up. Also, people would damage or black out the bike ID so that nobody else could query the unlock code using the app, essentially giving ownership to the person who memorized the bike ID. OFO was a comical commercial failure at UC San Diego, which no doubt factored into the decision to have them removed.
They did this in Camden nj and most of the bikes have been damaged , baskets removed and spray painted .
Paul Is Camdnen a diversified city?
Michael Stillwell yes it is ranked the worst city in America .
Lmao it has only been a month into the arrival of OFO in my country and there are already bikes being thrown down 7 levels, bikes being brought up to their own levels so that they can "reserve" their bikes and people spray painting over the bike so that people will not find it.
The best part is that it doesn't cost anything to smell the bike seats. You can just walk right up to a bicycle, bend over and take in those musky, fecal odors. This bike sharing thing has definitely changed my life for the better. No one can question you either, it's not their bike 😃👍.
"Lets test these out in an American city, but which one??"
"Hmmm, how about one of the rainiest and hilliest?"
"Sounds good to me!!"
menikmati789
Works for me.
That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea if they're hoping to test the waters for the US Market. If they're able to do well in a city where biking is more difficult, then it means they might all be smooth sailing as they expand to the rest of the US Market. And if not, they'll know how to improve their product to prepare for it, without risking large financial losses.
People are stealing and then selling it as scrap metal, removing the lock on the bike with qr code for private use etc in China. But I’m sure this system should work in countries where people care for others
Jonathan Ng which country do u think this could work in and who needs this bicycle system?
In the city of Singapore , as a mtber and roadie we kind of look down upon all these services as they have brought a noticable degree of inconveniance , as seen in the video where similarly bikes are just being piled everywhere. Yes Ofo penalised users for parking in non designated spots and rewards users for parking in designated spots but it hasnt stopped users from parking just about anywhere. And one disadvantage of such a system means that or gives a high possibility of damage incurring onto bikes , it is a 3rd party company and is not regulated by the government , there are no or almost no penalties for damaging the bike on purpose. My friend of whom uses the ofo service to commute can rarely get a bike thats mildly usable , and as i just remembered ofo's designated parking areas include actual bike parking areas where people who have invested money into a bike , park at. Mechanics from ofo cant even regularly maintain their bikes as most services operate in busy cities like Singapore , plus the fact that almost all bikes are parked in non designated spots. Whereas in a station system it is much more comfortable for both mechanics and cyclist in the long run, yes users may not be able to get their bikes almost anywhere but with proper city planning , areas of high concentration will be targeted
It is so convenient in some large cities in China. You can literally find a bike outside your home and ride it to the subway. You don't need to worry about your bike getting stolen anymore. But sometimes some bikes are broken and it takes awhile to find one that works.
Fort Worth's bike program is several years old, for the downtown area only, and they have a bike rack that works like a vending machine. I have never used them, but i imagine they require a deposit when you rent.
I've used this service and it's great for commuting within your neighbourhood. I have my own bicycle but I fear that it might get stolen or tampered with if I lock it outside. I guess that's one of the problems - irresponsible people and thieves. If there's a similar locking mechanism for my personal bike, that will be great.
This guy is a good reporter/ presenter, more of this guy thanks.
SO how is it like legal theft? Does vice really think renting a bike and then someone else renting it equates to theft? Man vice you've become worse and worse. I miss Simon and the Ukraine coverage was phenomenal.
I am an avid user of Ofo bikes here in Shanghai, and what I will say is a nuisance is the developing disdain and regulations for these bikes. For example, the apartment complex where I live used to let me bring the bike inside but suddenly and without warning, they rounded them all up and threw them into a large pile right outside of the community gate. From then on, no bike sharing was allowed inside the community simply because the gate guards didn't want to see them. Also, you can't leave them anywhere as Shanghai is experimenting with drop off points that are near high traffic/density areas. These drop off points are small and quickly fill up and local "chengguan" take nearby bike and through them into a pile thus eliminating the "convenience" of the bike.
More like "Legal Pollution". These bikes are EVERYWHERE here in San Diego. It's quickly becoming an eye sore. They are littered everywhere and ruining the beauty of the region. These bike are essentially disposed after use, tossed on sidewalks and left at private businesses. Edit: Other companies are showing up too. Rentable electric scooters are a thing here too. you'll see them tossed on lawns and sidewalks as well.
This is the first vice video I've liked in a very long time
Luke Brown also 4:20
Without a docking system, bikes get left everywhere. Right now, scooters in California cities are left on both private and public property, including sidewalks. The more popular the destination, the bigger the problem. I don't see why people can't legally take them as abandoned property and either smash them or reengineer them, unless the e-scooter companies have agreements with local government.
Did anyone laugh audibly at the face reveal at 1:52?
I guess it could happen. Any given second of a video, there is a chance somebody laughed, I suppose.
They tried this in Sydney, there are now piles of bikes all over the place. They also wind up in trees a lot.
In Amsterdam companies like this have been warned to remove their bikes of the streets of the city. It's a big mess...
In my country (Singapore), it is a disaster due to not strict enough rules enforced and also the culture. We have bicycles strewn left and right, along roadsides and some teenagers even throwing bicycles from high floors just for fun. DO NOT BRING IT INTO ANY COUNTRY UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT PEOPLE WILL NOT ABUSE THE SERVICE!
Had this at UCSD and it was actually really great for people who didn't want to buy a bike. UCSD eventually ended the program (possibly because it was taking too much space that actual bike owners could use).
What the hell was that thing on the guys head?
stupidity... or in hipster culture originality uniqueness style...
They are all over in Bellflower CA (Los Angeles county). A lot of bums are using it because it been free since Jan
There's a bunch of these in my town, most notably on my local college campus. (They're actually not allowed on campus, as the college has already partnered with a different bike sharing company.)
Chinese government has enforced policies to require all shared-bikes to install GPS location device. The original ofo bike(which is just a numeric lock) is simply junk on the street. People usually put another bike lock on one and basically making it a private bike, Now, not so much.
About the parking anywhere and in bad locations part, you could solve that pretty simple by just having a report function, that looks up who used it last, then ban them from the service for set ammount of time. as a punisment for being a nuisance.
the issues will spread to America since people in big cities are notorious for not treating things right
Pretty cool. I wonder if some tech-savvy country like Estonia will have a similar system but with cheap cars. Find an empty car, drive to wherever you need to go, just leave it wherever, someone else take it. Much less parking space would be wasted. But they would need to be like extra-safe cars, perhaps that would have strong speed limiters, as it may be kind of disgusting to have to use an embedded breathalyzer.
Would it really be that hard to install some racks and require people to use them?
The point is that in China people want to use the bike from Subway station to their work place. So 500 metre to 2 kilometres distance. Installing racks will destroy the business model because if people have to park it 500 metres away from their work place, why should they use the bike in the first place?
Kurosu Ha it doesnt justify the stupidity of their business model. The company knows them not having dedicated stations has been a large issue since day one with bikes being completely abused and blocking areas and also being lost. This company will not survive at all without a structured plan on accounting for each bike in an organized manner. I dont really care if people dont want to walk an extra few feet or even a mile to dock a bike thats not my issue, if they want to use something they need to return it to its rightful place in the same condition they found. PERIOD
John Doe That's exactly why their business model isn't stupid. When given the choice between going that extra half kilometre to the rack and simply leaving the bike there most people will choose the later. Racks therefore cannot complete at all.
Leaving the bike in good condition is also not absolutely necessary. Bikes are relatively cheap to repair and replace so some loss is tolerable.
Both OFO and Mobike are making money even many of their bike got destroyed every day. Their business model does not require people to return the bike to the "rightful" location. As long as each bike can serve about 500 hours before getting destroyed, the Company can make money.
Some company is starting car sharing business in China. You can rent an Audi A4 or BMW 3-series for about 0.5 dollars per mile and parking anywhere you want as long as it is a legit parking space.
Melissa0774 in america maybe just maybe like 15% it might work. in china tho definitely not people In China will throw trash on the ground even if there's a trash can right next them they will read a sign that says no refunds and demand a refund they will literally argue with you over the color of sky
I've seen these around Dallas
Yeah me too in lower Greenville and uptown.
I thought they was bait bikes or something when I first started seeing them in Rowlett. It's be funny to rent on and loosen all the parts so the next person gets on and it falls apart
\
Michael D'Augustine yeah their in all over dfw
I live in the area. I need friends
Michael D'Augustine Everywhere in Carrollton.
Sadly, I am seeing variants of OFO bikes being sold here without locks at local bike shops. Are they still doing good?
When I moved to China you only saw a few Mobikes. now there are many different types of bikes. They also rolled out electric bikes. What I find annoying are the people who don't put the bikes in bike parking.
The solution for this problems is so easy that it is unbelievable that they didn't do it already. Just put locks with sensors that allow the user to unlock knowing he/she needs to lock back or if not they'll be charged a price of the entire bike.
In Seattle last week, someone dumped a bunch of those lime green bikes into the ship canal.
We Dutch have a bike sharing program for over hundred years. Only problem is the bike owners don't agree.
This is a great idea. I hope they do well in the US.
What if you put the bike in a garage or somewhere that only you can access so you can just scan the bike at the same place and just take it when you need it?
I was in Beijing last week and used bike sharing from mobike (rival of OFO) a lot, gotta say it is so convenient and indispensable. But I somehow find it a scam in the long run, there's countless of free ride promotions over and over, i was told by some that they had never paid since registration, there's just no way the company can make a profit out of this business except those financial tricks.
I would love this, don't own a bike personally but used to when i was a child, and i've been thinking about how useful it could be having one, but the cost and storage options doesn't really make it appealing. if i could just pick up a bike to make my commute faster that i normally walk, then just leave it at my destination. that would be really nice.
Lots of these appeared in London recently, but after a couple of weeks I didn't see them any more. I don't know what happened.
The True Fizz they all got stolen or damaged.... Easterners
The bike program is awesome, use it in China all the time
icmb_ it’s not that awesome they clutter the streets.
anchorbuildings cars clutter the streets
at least the streets are designed for cars. you can't park in the middle of the road. these bikes block the streets. i got nothing against people using hire bikes. i think it's a good thing for the most part but if you come to china you will see what a mess it is. they don't have official docking stations like in other countries and people just dump them everywhere. this isn't a cars vs. bikes thing. if you're a biker you probably prefer a cleaner healthier environment. these bikes are like litter on the streets and sort of a visual spam and an environmental disaster when they are all dumped. they're not managing it properly.
There is a major oversight here... a person could rip out the GPS tracker, change the lock, repaint it and boom.. you now have a new bike for the price of 50 cents/1 dollar.
LOL, Nike has been doing this in Portland for over a year, and noone is jacking those bikes. We have a bazillion homeless crazy people on bikes, and none of them are the orange rental Nike bikes.
Maybe not racks but some sort of criteria like "drop within 2 miles of..." would work.
So by your logic, Uhaul is like car theft because your rent it from one location, and drop it off at another location when you arrive.
We need this on south beach asap.. damn $10-$12 an hour for a bike here..
Sigrafix
Tampa too
In the UK they were drummed out of most if not all major cities and good riddance too!
Many were stolen, others were vandalised.
Surely you can afford to BUY your own bike?
Sounds like it would be good for business if they invested in bike parking infrastructure in their future rollouts. I am sure universeities would be more than happy to have you install more bike racks.
I've lived in Beijing for 4 years now, and these rental bikes are both a blessing and a curse. A little consideration on the part of the rider as to wear to park them would solve a lot of the problems, but unfortunately the last century of political turmoil have culturally erased the concept of considering others before oneself from values of mainland Chinese people.
I was really diffused when these things showed up in st louis recently. I've seen bike sharing things in Chicago, but these were just left randomly in the street. I didn't know what was going on.
*Our city is starting this....now these damn bikes litter the sidewalks everywhere uptown. You have to be very careful not to fall over one.*
I live in Seattle & found one of these bikes outside my house. Yes, OUTSIDE MY HOUSE, in my property. Not very pleased.
Seemed like a really awesome idea at first, but because the local government doesn't force the business to solve basic logistical problems, bike sharing is a freaking nightmare in Shenzhen. Each company (mobike, ofo and tons of smaller ones) thinks the best way to become the dominant company is to literally flood the sidewalks with bikes. It seriously treacherous trying to get to work in the mornings when the infrastructure lacks space for this many people on bikes. Why makes it worse is people are not accountable for what happens to the bikes. This results in bikes being left in extremely inconvenient locations which creates hazards for others. Bike sharing seriously seemed like an awesome idea, but these companies have got to find a way to fix these issues.
I'd rather be hit by a bike than by a car. Getting hit by one truly sucks.
James Matthews
:)
There are also similar things starting in US right now. But with higher expenses.
What does the contents of the video has to do with the title?
Three companies have launched in Seattle, the bikes are everywhere, it a new form of litter and you soon get very sick of seeing pills of them that you have to walk around because they are piled in front of some neighborhood brew pubs, ridden there by you guess it, milliennials.
MC1R Gene Well you don’t have to worry about it anymore.
there are 2 bike sharing services like that in Zurich. one is ebike one is not. NYC needs a ebike sharing service
Why is people selling these on fb marketplace for 100 quid
No different, than if you had cars everywhere and no parking lots. People would just park anywhere. You need to build bicycle garages and parking. C'mon Seattle get it together.
the reporters hair is so tall it no longer fits in frame
I'm glad to see Gerald get a job at vice after Hey Arnold ended
I'm sorry, going to have to downvote this. The video was fine, but what's up with the stupid title?
that haircut is pissing me off
80's called they want theirs high top back
Way more bikes out there than nessicarry. You know when a bike breaks, you can fix it, right? No need to get a new bike just because it has a flat tire.
Do they require bike insurance for tire repair?
I don't get it, there's already two other bike companies like this in Seattle that are the exact same thing, why would they come here?
So if an American is walking down the side walk and trips over the bike left anywhere can they sue? Leave it anywhere becomes a problem just park them inside a locked building can you imagine someone doing that
Ofo just came to my campus and I hate it. I ride my own bike but the people who use the Ofo bikes don't know bike laws and are inconsiderate or others around them and leave there bikes where they don't belong often in the middle of sidewalks or in the way of ramps. I wish they would have never come.
Finally decided to look up wtf was up with all these yellow bikes around my city in Arizona
I live in Beijing and these bikes are great, most people don't even bother to lock them so it's basically having a free bike everywhere
we have these bikes in bellflower/ca and they're for 1$ an hour . It's pretty convenient but at the same time people put them inside their houses and what not and usually most people don't put them back in their designated areas but who cares .
New bike sharing program? We've had this in Austin back in the 90s, all the bikea were yellow and anyone could take them. They were all stolen
whenever a thing is not yours, you don't take good care of it.
Gerald, say hey to Arnold for me.
I've seen these things rise over my trips to China. Pretty funny to see Ofo operating in the United States.
When he says 300 million bikes there is a dollar sign next to it in the captions. 2:41
Bike sharing is stupid. Most people who bike to work already have bikes. Where I live, Seattle, they have a program like this called limebike, and the bike are just scattered all around the student. I really don’t want to see an ugly green bike sitting by a homeless camp everyday.