Overview of public bike share system in Guangzhou, China

1. Summary of the process
of implementing the
Public Bicycle System in
Guangzhou, China
NITIN WARRIER
City Program Manager, ITDP (India)
nitinwarrier@itdp.org

2. What is ITDP?
ITDP stands for the Institute for Transportation and Development policy.
We are an international not for profit organization and promote
sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide.
We function as ad so s to c es a d go e
e fu c o advisors o cities and government age c es
e agencies.
We provide necessary support in
conceptualization, planning, detailing and implementation of best
practice sustainable and equitable urban transport programs and
systems.
We raise our funding from international donor agencies.
We do not seek any remuneration
We seek a commitment to support and implement sustainable
urban transport systems.
systems

3. ITDP key program areas are
Public transit:
Investing in modern, attractive public transit systems, specifically bus rapid transit, to
provide a higher quality of life in cities
Non‐Motorized Transport:
Making streets safer and more convenient for cyclists and pedestrians, improving the
q
quality of affordable non‐motorized vehicles, and promoting bike use
y , p g
Travel Demand Management:
Reducing air pollution, congestion, and CO2 emissions by reducing private car use
through parking regulations access management, and road user charging
regulations, management
Urban Accessibility:
Reinforcing urban centers by encouraging pedestrian‐oriented real estate
development,
development urban design and public space management
design,
Sustainable Transportation Investment:
Ensuring necessary funding is available for sustainable transport projects.

4. EUROPE
ASIA
NORTH (India
AMERICA China
Indonesia)
ITDP
CENTRAL
AFRICA
AMERICA
SOUTH
AMERICA

5. Project Introduction : Guangzhou Bike Share
• The system opened in June
22nd , 2010.
• The first phase is along the
Zhongshan dadao BRT
corridor, has 18 stations and
1000 bicycles.
y
•In August 2nd, this system has
been expanded to 113 stations
and 5000 bikes mainly around
bikes,
Huajinxincheng and Xiayuan
BRT stations and the nearby
living and business areas .

6. Project Introduction : Guangzhou Bike Share
This bike sharing project contains 3 phases
phases,
providing 15,000 bicycles.
• Phase 1: along the BRT corridor and nearby
living and business areas with 5,000 bikes.
• Phase 2: Will set stations around the bus stops
with 5,000 bikes.
• Phase 3: (to be completed before Asian
games): set stations in Jinshazhou and
Daxuecheng with 5,000 bikes .

7. Operations
• Initiated by the Guangzhou Government and
operated by Guangzhou Public Bicycle Operation
and Management Co.
• They use high technology RFID and GPS
technology.
• As there are more bicycles than docks, so some of
the stations have attendants as well as automated
docks.
• A user needs to register to use the system, users
g y ,
can use the Yangchengtong card (this card can be
used for bus,BRT, metro and taxi) or public bicycle
service card, Users need a deposit of at least 300
card
RMB .

8. Operations
• In only 2 months,
– The number of rental per day has reached 5000,
– There have 10,182 people registered the service,
, p p g ,
• The service time of the system is 7:00‐22:00,
24‐hour services are available in three
stations:
– Tianhegongyuan A,
– Dashadi metro station
– Huangcun.

9. Pricing model
Time Used Price
1 hour 0 RMB
Additional 1 ‐ 2 hours 1 RMB
More than 3 hours 3 RMB
The goal of the pricing model is to encourage short trips not
to maximize revenue.
In Hangzhou 95% of the trips are less than 1 hour
‐ so they are free

10. Pathway to success in implementing
Guangzhou’s Public Bi l S
G h ’ P bli Bicycle System
Getting from Documentation to...
to Implementation
2008 2010

11. Other Systems in China
Beijing
B iji
Hangzhou
Shanghai
Wuhan

12. Bicycle Parking
High Quality Bike Parking Casual Bicycle Parking

13. Bicycle Sharing

14. Bicycle Sharing

15. Bike parking surveys

16. Bike volume surveys

17. Bikeway surveys

18. Bike users surveys
Who’s riding bicycles in Guangzhou
Age Gender
70 100
Sex Female Sex Male
percentage 90
60
80
50 70
60
40
50
30
40
20 30
20
10
10
0 0
< 18 19 ‐ 30 31 ‐ 44 45 ‐ 59 > 60 Female Male
An even distribution of young men and women

19. Who’s riding bicycles in Guangzhou
18.0
percentage Income distribution at all locations
16.0
16 0 70.0
70 0
percentage
14.0
60.0
12.0
50.0
50 0
10.0
8.0 40.0
6.0
30.0
4.0
20.0
2.0
0.0 10.0
student
housewife
freelance
other
company
college / university
alien worker
ercial service
titution staff
school
staff of
public
0.0
tudent
st of
< 500 500 ‐ 1000 1000 ‐ 2000 2000 ‐ 4000 > 4000
taff
a
st
inst
comme
e
Personal Income / month [RMB]
Occupation

20. How often and what kind of bicycle?
Cost of bicycle
45.0 Frequency of bicycle use
percentage
40.0
35.0 60
30.0 p
percentage
g
25.0
20.0 50
15.0
10.0
5.0 40
0.0
< 100 100 ‐ 200 200 ‐ 500 500 ‐ 1000 > 1000
30
35.0
Preferred bicycle style 20
percentage
30.0
25.0
10
20.0
15.0
10.0 0
5.0 occasionally 1 ‐ 3 times per > 3 times per > once per day
0.0 week week
Folding Bike Mountain City Bike Race Bike Old Style BMX
Bike Frequency of use

21. How long are users riding?
g g
Trip time by bike [minutes]
40.0
35.0
35 0
30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0 percentage
10.0
5.0
0.0
< 10 10 ‐ 20 20 ‐ 30 30 ‐ 45 > 45
Time span [minutes]
92 % of people ride a bicycle for less than 45 minutes

22. Education and Training of Local Decision Makers
• GMEDRI
• Communication Commission
• Planning Department
• Public Bicycle Company

24. Promotion and Media

25. Continual Cooperation with Public Bike
• Cooperation with the Guangzhou Public
Bicycle Management Co Ltd. to give continual
support of the system
– Station location planning
– Technical support
– Operational recommendations
– Added efficienc
efficiency

26. Financing – Capital Costs
• Guangzhou – Completely paid for by the
government
• Shanghai – Packaged in with the total
operational cost of RMB 1500/bicycle/year
• H
Hangzhou – C
h Completely paid f b the
l l id for by h
government
• Wuhan – Xinfeida (operating company) paid
for the capital costs

27. Revenue Model
Revenue can come from the following streams:
• Usage fee
• Advertising
d ii
• Membership fee
• Temporary visitor membership
• System Sponsorship
• Retail

28. Estimated Costs of Guangzhou System
• Capital Costs
– RMB 25 million
• Operating Costs
– RMB 9.6 million per year
Operating costs are an estimate because the
system is new

29. Usage Fee Revenue
• Guangzhou:
Duration of use Cost of use
First hour free of charge
1 – 2 hours thereafter 1 元
2 – 3 hours thereafter 2元
More than 3 hours 3 元 / hour
Max per day 30
– Generates very little revenue
• In Hangzhou ‐ 95% rides <1 hour
• Chinese systems: usually at least 1 hour free
• Western systems: ½ hour free

30. Advertising
• Advertising rates throughout the city vary greatly
– Some stations have no marketable advertising space
• Each station one/two large boards one small
boards,
board
• A conservative estimate for Guangzhou is
¥5,000,000 per year
• On bicycle advertising is hard to sell; unless one
large company takes the whole fleet

31. Membership Fee Revenue
• Potential revenue from annual membership fee
Membership Fee
¥5 ¥ 20 ¥ 50
150,000 ¥ 750,000 ¥ 3,000,000 ¥ 7,500,000
Users 250,000 ¥ 1,250,000 ¥ 5,000,000 ¥ 12,500,000
500,000 ¥ 2,500,000 ¥ 10,000,000 ¥ 25,000,000
1,000,000 ¥ 5,000,000 ¥ 20,000,000 ¥ 50,000,000
• This has the potential to price out some users (RMB 300 in
Guangzhou’s case)
• There is no data to show price elasticity of annual membership
p y p
fees

32. Tourist Visitor Membership Revenue
• Tourist membership can be a major source of
revenue
Daily Usage Fee
Guangzhou Annual % Uptake 50 100
Visitors
0.01 590,000 118,0000
1.18
1 18 million visitors in
2009 to Guangzhou 0.1 5,900,000 11,800,000
1.0 59,000,000 118,000,000

33. System Sponsorship
China has not done a system sponsorship but there are
very successful models in Montreal, Canada (Rio Tinto)
and recently in London UK (Barclays).
London, (Barclays)
Barclay’s provided about £25 mil of to the system over a 5
year period (the £25 mil includes bicycle superhighway
infrastructure project [estimated 1/3 of the total cost).
cost)

34. Retail Revenue
The sale of general
goods can add revenue
to cover operating costs

35. www.chinabikesharing.org
hi bik h i