NANSHAN District urban administration impounded around 1,000 app-based bikes in a warehouse in European City.

    The bikes were piled up in a yard the size of three basketball courts that serves as the warehouse of Shenzhen Funbike Bicycle Rental Service Co., a traditional bike rental services company.

    In a response to online criticism, the administration said the bicycles were locked up because they were illegally parked and the operators could retrieve them without having to pay fines.

    “Some of the bikes were discarded on the green belt, occupying pedestrian walkways, and weren’t moved in a timely manner. We were unable to contact the bike operators, so we moved the bikes to the warehouse,” said Tang Bo, vice section chief with Nanshan Urban Administration.

    Tang said that the operators had come several times to retrieve their bicycles.

    Employees of ofo said they found that some employees of Funbike were collecting app-based bikes into a truck parked at Wanxia Metro Station on Tuesday. The Funbike employees claimed that they were required by the Nanshan Urban Administration to collect the bicycles.

    Li Weihang, ofo’s public relations manager, said that it was inappropriate for the administration to interfere with the business of the two rivals.

    Tang confirmed that they had hired employees of Funbike, which is the operator of a government-subsidized bicycle rental service, to collect the bikes since the company had vehicles and a warehouse to transport and hold the bicycles.

    Tang denied the allegation of a rivalry between ofo and Funbike. Funbike has been responsible for the construction and operation of public bicycle rental services in Nanshan District since October 2015. It only manages 14,100 bicycles in the city, so it couldn’t meet the growing demand.

    The popularity of app-based bikes doesn’t pose much of a threat to public bicycle rental services, but instead serves as a supplement for the services, Tang said. (Han Ximin)