Majority support bicycle, car sharing in China

2017-06-27
Xinhua

BEIJING — China’s transportation regulator said June 27 that the majority of people approve of bicycle and car sharing.

The Ministry of Transport has issued draft guidelines on bicycle and car sharing and asked for public comment.

The government encourages this kind of sharing, which allows people to rent bicycles and cars for short periods of time and can help ease congestion and parking pressure.

The ministry received altogether 874 comments. More than 760 were in support of the businesses. Concerns were raised about the security of personal information, the specific scope of applications and illegal activity.

The ministry will amend the guidelines in accordance with the response before release, said Wu Chungeng, a spokesperson with the ministry.

China is home to more than 40 car-sharing firms, which own more than 40,000 cars, most of which are new energy vehicles.

According to the China E-Commerce Research Center, there were 18.9 million users of shared bicycles nationwide at the end of 2016. The number is expected to hit 50 million by the end of 2017.