The parking and maintenance of shared-bikes have become major issues in the management of the business, according to a survey result released by the city’s transport commission Wednesday.
The survey of five shared-bike operators in the city found that Jiujiu, U-bike and Yibu bikes failed the satisfaction poll, receiving comprehensive scores below the threshold of 60 points. Mobike and ofo operators just passed the threshold. The scores were out of 100 total points.
It is the first time the city has evaluated service quality of the app-based bike operators.
Statistics showed that Mobike and ofo bikes take up 43.2 percent and 51.5 percent of the local shared-bike market, respectively. Their technical support and management level are better than the other operators.
However, Mobike and ofo have been widely complained about for adding more bikes without approval from the city authority and failing to handle randomly parked bikes in a timely manner.
The performance evaluation result showed the overall operation level of shared-bikes in the city is low and needs further optimization. The commission will require bike operators to make improvement plans, upgrade service quality and bear the majority of the responsibility.
In April, Chengdu released a quality service plan, ordering bike operators that fail the assessment to exit the market. Shenzhen’s transport commission said the evaluation in Shenzhen, for the time being, isn’t being used as a standard for operator qualification.
The city is working on regulations for shared-bike management, and in the future, the evaluation results of regular surveys will be used as a major judging criterion for operators’ entry into or exit from the market.
In a response, Mobike said it will launch an action against random parking and introduce the Beacon Fence technology, which delivers precise GPS-Free indoor/outdoor user location tracking and events with radial and geometric zones for any physical location and layout.
The ofo operator will also explore advanced technologies to improve efficiency, and regularly clear and maintain bikes.