Bike Share Oversupply in China: Huge Piles of Abandoned and Broken Bicycles

A worker rides a shared bicycle past a huge pile of unused shared bikes in a vacant lot in Xiamen, Fujian province, China, on December 13, 2017. #

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Because of overcapacity at launch, over 10,000 bike-share service bicycles were abandoned at a bicycle graveyard on January 13, 2018, in Xiamen, Fujian, China. #

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Shared bikes stored and piled in Shanghai on February 1, 2018. #

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A worker untangles a rope amid piled-up bicycles in a lot in Xiamen, Fujian province, China, on December 13, 2017. #

Reuters

A parking lot is seen packed with tens of thousands of shared bikes belonging to the Chinese bike-sharing firm Bluegogo in Beijing's Chaoyang District on March 5, 2018. Bluegogo, once China's third-largest bike-rental service, ceased operations last November having run out of money, leaving tens of thousands of its bicycles in limbo. Bluegogo was recently acquired by Didi, another bike-share company, which says it plans to replace some of the older Bluegogo bikes with its own. #

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Confiscated sharing bicycles of different brands sit in a parking lot of the Huangpu District Vehicle Management Company in Shanghai, China, on February 28, 2017. #

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Thousands of illegally parked share bikes are temporary detained in a sports field in Hefei, Anhui, China, on August 17, 2017. #

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An overhead view of part of a group of thousands of unused share bikes in a field near Shanghai. #

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This is not a field of tulips, but a drone's-eye-view of tens of thousands of unused share bikes lined up in a field near Shanghai. #

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A drone shot of part of a group of thousands of unused share bikes in a field near Shanghai. #

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Bicycles from various bike-sharing services sit in a lot in an urban village in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, on September 7, 2017. #

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A man walks past piles of share bikes outside a repair shop in Beijing on April 13, 2017. #

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A worker repairs a shared bicycle at a repair center in Beijing on April 6, 2017. #

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An aerial view of shared bicycles, collected by police after they blocked streets and sidewalks, abandoned in a field in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on June 28, 2017. #

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Chinese men walk past abandoned share bicycles, stored in a temporary parking lot in Shanghai on August 24, 2017. #

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Abandoned bicycles of various bike-sharing services sit overgrown in a lot in Shanghai, China, on November 3, 2017. #

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Thousands of illegally parked share bikes are detained in a sports field in Hefei, Anhui, China, on August 17, 2017. #

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Thousands of illegally parked share bikes sit detained in a sports field on August 17, 2017, in Hefei, China. #

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Ofo bike-share service bicycles sit lined up in a street on November 23, 2017, in Beijing, China. #

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This picture taken on February 20, 2017, shows an employee of a parking firm putting bicycles from the bike-sharing companies Mobike and Ofo onto a truck in Shanghai. #

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On April 13, 2017, a Chinese worker moves frames for new Ofo bicycles in a bicycle factory in Handan, north China's Hebei province. #

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Shared bicycles block a pathway in Jiuxianqiao, Chaoyang district, Beijing, on July 14, 2017. #

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This picture taken on March 1, 2017, shows impounded bicycles from the bike-sharing services Mobike and Ofo in Shanghai. #

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Bicycles from various bike-sharing services sit in a lot in Shanghai, China, on November 27, 2017. #

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Impounded bicycles from the bike-sharing services Mobike and Ofo sit in Shanghai on March 1, 2017. #

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A worker from the bike-share company Ofo puts a damaged bike on a pile beside a makeshift repair depot for the company. Thousands of derelict bikes are being kept in the depot after coming off the road on March 29, 2017, in Beijing. #

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Bicycles from bike-sharing firms lie dumped near the entrance of Xiashan park in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on January 16, 2017. #

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Abandoned share bicycles sit in a temporary lot in Shanghai on August 24, 2017. #

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Nature begins to reclaim abandoned share bicycles, left in a temporary parking lot in Shanghai on August 24, 2017. #

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Bicycles of various bike-sharing services completely fill a large lot in Shanghai, China, on November 23, 2017. #

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