Mobike, China’s major bike rental company, announced today that it will roll out its first ride-hailing service in Guizhou, marking the firm’s official attempt to expand outside of the bike rental business.
The first batch of the “shared” cars are all new energy vehicles and will be placed in Guian New Area and Guiyang City through a partnership with Xinte Motors (新特电动汽车, our translation). Mobike will add a car-hailing feature in its app, so users won’t need to switch between different apps to use the bike and car rental services. Users can rent a car, lock it, and make payments all within the app.
Mobike’s rental electric cars in Guizhou (Image credit: Mobike)
In October, Mobike partnered with Shouqi Limousine & Chauffer (首汽约车) to provide Mobike users a ride-hailing service operated by Shouqi. In November, Mobike reached a strategic partnership with another ride-hailing service Didapinche with Mobike adding a “Pinche (ride sharing)” feature in the app linked to the service.
Mobike isn’t the only bike rental player that is looking to provide ride-hailing services. In April, Didi Chuxing announced that it’s partnership with ofo and added ofo’s bike rental service in its app. Mobike’s move also shows that ride-hailing and bike rental services can naturally come together under one roof.
