The Chinese capital is reinforcing electronic fences for bike rentals. The designated parking zones will prevent bike users parking haphazardly, according to Xinhua report (in Chinese).
Last year, regulators issued parking guidelines to encourage bike users to park in an orderly manner, but the guidelines were not strictly imposed. Now, regulators are enforcing the guidelines throughout multiple districts in Beijing. Users who park outside of the designated parking zones would not be able to end the ride, accumulating owed payments until the bike is parked properly. Each designated parking station is equipped with an electronic device to monitor bikes via GPS tracker on the bike.
On May 2nd, the Tongzhou Transportation Bureau announced that 759 electric fences for share bikes have been set up throughout the district. The bureau is asking all bike-rental operators to fully implement “in-zone payment” by this year.
Outside of Tongzhou, a number of districts in Beijing have been reinforcing the parking guidelines and testing electronic fences, including Dongcheng, Xicheng, Haidian, Chaoyang, and Daxing.
Beijing started implementing new guidelines and electronic fences since last April to tame the city’s oversaturated bike rentals.