Bike-share scheme comes to Shenyang

Bicycles from a bike-share scheme in Shenyang city. [Photo/syd.com.cn]

As the bike-sharing industry booms in many Chinese first-tier and second-tier cities, the convenient service has finally arrived in Shenyang.

On March 9, the first batch of bikes was placed in an urban area of the city, providing coverage for universities, metro stations, shopping malls, office buildings, and residential communities, with the company coolqi.com estimating an eventual fleet of 7,000 bicycles.

The company revealed that more bikes will later be put into service covering a wider area, and the number and location of the bikes will depend on customer demand and feedback.

To use the bicycles, customers just need to download an app and pay a deposit of 298 yuan ($43.12). It costs 0.3 yuan for half an hour. There are no fixed pick-up or drop-off points for the bikes, which can be located with the help of GPS mapping and unlocked by scanning a QR code.

The bikes are aimed at adult customers only, and coolqi.com has advised that the bikes are not suitable for children.

A Shenyang resident scans a QR code to unlock a bike from a bike-share scheme.[Photo/syd.com.cn]