It's time to consider the use of public bicycles
Our reporter Ye Xiaoyan, intern Xing Shujing
Under the squeeze of shared bicycles, public bicycles that once provided convenience to citizens on the streets of the city have become relatively lonely.
Reporters have visited for many days and found that problems such as low usage rate and insufficient operation and maintenance capabilities are plagued by public bicycles.
Relevant experts said in an interview: It's time to consider the issue of where these public bicycles can stay on the street.
During the evening rush hour, the public bicycles at the northwest corner of Puhuangyu intersection were unattended.
Photo by our reporter Cheng Gong
Dust covered and few people care
On the morning rush hour on Monday, March 22, walk several tens of meters to the south from the southeast corner of Dongdan Intersection, and you can see the bicycle matrix parked on the roadside. The green, yellow, and blue bicycles are shared bicycles, and the red ones are public bicycles.
The reporter stopped to observe for an hour. All car users chose shared bicycles without exception, and no one cared about the red public bicycles.
The reporter found that these cars have been exposed to wind and sun, some of the rubber on the seats and handles are mottled and wrinkled, and some wheel shells are severely worn. The dust brought by the sandy weather a few days ago fell on the seats and handlebars. No one cleaned it up.
"I pass by here every day. These piles are just energized and occupy the ground, but a lot of them are idle. In fact, it's a waste of resources." A citizen talked about public bicycles with regret and distress in his tone.
The reporter found in the investigation that there are still some "iron fans" in the large number of idle public rental bicycles.
At the northwest corner of Puhuangyu Metro Station, it was the evening rush hour after get off work. The reporter found that within half an hour, three citizens swiped their cards to take away public bicycles.
"The wheels are large and the seat is comfortable. It is easy to access for me. I use it every day." Citizen Mr. Li told reporters: "The key is cheap. If you ride a shared bicycle, you can't get it for less than 10 yuan a day."
During the interview, some citizens complained that the location of some car rental points was unreasonable.
Outside Exit B of Puhuangyu Station on Metro Line 5, the reporter met Mr. Wang who swiped his card to pick up the car. “I use it once or twice. To be honest, many piles are inconveniently located, so no one uses them.” Mr. Wang pointed out. Pointing to the opposite side of the road, "There is also a row on the northwest corner of the intersection. I have seen them. They are all on the high steps. It is too inconvenient to push them down. It is not as good as here. There is a car after two steps out of the subway."
Unmanned repair of equipment failure
In addition to uneven usage, vehicle and equipment failures are also more common.
Near the intersection of Majiapu East Road and Jiaomen Road, there are a large number of public bicycle piles erected on the sidewalk.
When the reporter passed by here in February this year, he found that two of the piles were in a power-off state, the display screen did not show, and the vehicles locked in the piles could not be taken out.
The reporter came to the site again after a month, and the two sets of truck piles were still "not on."
It can be seen that in one month, no maintenance personnel came to deal with this situation.
Coincidentally, in the northwest corner of the intersection, although the truck piles here are all energized, the self-service kiosks for swiping cards and barcodes "strike", and no matter how the reporter presses them, there is no response on the screen.
Only about 100 meters away from the station is a public bicycle card registration point in Fengtai District.
The reporter reported the failure of the truck pile and the screen, and the staff said they did not know.
The staff member frankly said that the maintenance team has been greatly reduced nowadays, and sometimes there are cases where maintenance is not timely.
Suggestion: Can be changed to semi-market operation
The reporter's inquiry found that in January this year, Shunyi District and Fangshan District have started public bicycles to withdraw from the market smoothly; in March this year, public bicycles in Yanqing District will also withdraw from the market.
Public bicycles and equipment in these three districts are being gradually removed.
Chen Yanyan, Dean of the School of Urban Transportation, Beijing University of Technology, believes that public bicycles are an inevitable product in the process of urban development and have played a good role in supplementing the urban public transportation system and opening up the "last mile" for many years.
It is undeniable that in recent years, due to the impact of shared bicycles, the development of public bicycles has been hindered. Over the years, problems such as low utilization, waste of resources, and occupation of public space have appeared.
"In the past year or two, the government is working hard to build a slow-moving traffic system, and through various measures to improve the cycling environment for the citizens, it is time to consider the issue of where these public bicycles can stay on the street."
Zheng Shi, a member of the CPPCC and deputy general manager of Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., suggested that public bicycles can consider reforming the operation model, from the original pure public service nature to a semi-market model with appropriate government financial investment, and through big data Analysis and other methods to shrink the “front”, targeted placement in areas with high requirements for parking environment order or closed and semi-enclosed community environments, and simply canceled in areas that have been idle for a long time, which can save costs and improve to a certain extent. Efficiency, while also giving full play to people’s livelihood.