Bike Graveyards | Sohu “Rear Window”
Wu Guoyong—Sohu
Forty years ago, China was a country on pedals: Roughly 60 percent of all trips were made on a bicycle. But as the economy blossomed, these two-wheelers, once considered status symbols, gave way to cars. Over the past couple years, however, some 60 companies have sprung up to give the tech-savvy, app-happy generation an easy way to get around: shared, dockless bikes. Fueled by venture capital, the companies have dumped more than 20 million cheap, brightly colored bikes onto Chinese streets. Many bikes now sit unused in vacant lots—also called bike graveyards.
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Forty years ago, China was a country on pedals: Roughly 60 percent of all trips were made on a bicycle. But as the economy blossomed, these two-wheelers, once considered status symbols, gave way to cars. Over the past couple years, however, some 60 companies have sprung up to give the tech-savvy, app-happy generation an easy way to get around: shared, dockless bikes. Fueled by venture capital, the companies have dumped more than 20 million cheap, brightly colored bikes onto Chinese streets. Many bikes now sit unused in vacant lots—also called bike graveyards.