Another uncertainty is presented by the policies. We have to admit that Shanghai is once again the forerunner in regulating an emerging industry. For instance, Shanghai and Tianjin implemented a new rule stating that shared bikes can only operate for three years and can not re-enter the market after refurnishing.

Shanghai even brings up hardware standards and managing regulations for shared bikes. For example, the components must be water-proof and rust-proof. There is also a rule requiring that every fleet of 1000 bikes must have five people managing them. This leads to disadvantages for companies that adopt the low-risk deployment and high-cost maintenance strategy like ofo. Once implemented such operation, the expired bikes would influence the company’s profit period.

People who are chasing the craze have their own goals. Some new foundations want to take this opportunity to get their name out there. Some are thinking that a field in which Tencent and Didi have participated must be lucrative, and that even if this craze eventually crumbles, the industry giants will deal with the mess.

This wave of shared bikes has given traditional bike makers lots of profits, but nobody really knows if shared bikes would become the strategic asset of Internet giants. Therefore, it’s unwise to put their faith into the hands of shared bike platforms.

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Translated by Garrett Lee(Senior Translator at PAGE TO PAGE), working for TMTpost.