Richard Han

    ximhan@126.com

    A BEIJING-BASED company has put its 400 app-based electric bikes into service in Dapeng, an area that doesn’t restrict e-bikes in Shenzhen, in cooperation with the local government.

    In the four days since the e-bikes were released, more than 4,000 local residents registered on the company’s app to use the service.

    “Shenzhen encourages green commuting and app-based e-bikes meet national standards. They will be used in Dapeng to connect the last three to five kilometers of people’s commutes,” Feng Xinyi, deputy chief of Shenzhen’s traffic police bureau, said in a news conference.

    Users need to park their e-bikes at app-guided and digitally designated places in residential, working and business areas. The operator has also designated 100 preferred parking places for app-based e-bikes. Those who fail to park the e-bikes in designated areas will be charged an additional fee.

    Such bikes first appeared in Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park in January this year to meet the demand of users traveling a distance of 10 kilometers. However, the operator was ordered to call back its bikes two days later as the parking issue, as police put it, needed to be addressed comprehensively. Police suggested that the operator pilot the program in Dapeng.

    In Shenzhen, only e-bikes involved in courier, delivery and emergency services and registered with the police are allowed to be on the street.

    Although accidents involving e-bikes have continued to decrease over the past six years, e-bike-related fatalities still account for 28 percent of the total accident deaths in Shenzhen.