Shenzhen announced an open bid for the shared bikes market on July 3, marking the first time it will release the shared bike operation quota through an open bid. The bid, valid for 3 years, will enable the government to assess winning companies and dynamically adjust their deployment quotas based on assessment results. The initial allocation consists of 450,000 shared bikes, with 360,000 bikes immediately available upon winning the bid. An additional 90,000 bikes will be released in phases based on ridership and government assessments. According to data released by the Transport Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality in March, the three major shared bike operators in Shenzhen, Meituan Bike, Ant Group-backed Hello Bike, and Didi Chuxing’s Qingju Bike, have collectively deployed approximately 412,000 shared bicycles by the end of 2022. Currently, only Meituan Bike is allowed to operate city-wide in Shenzhen as it acquired Mobike in 2018, once a prominent player in China’s shared bike market with permission to operate throughout the city. This acquisition helped Meituan Bike to inherit Mobike’s citywide vehicle deployment rights in Shenzhen, making it the largest operator in Shenzhen now. According to official statistics, Meituan Bike had deployed 261,900 bikes in Shenzhen as of July 20, 2021, far surpassing Hello Bike’s 95,600 bikes and Qingju Bike’s 32,000 bikes. [Caixin, in Chinese]