Stuck in a Jam? Get on Your Bike: Didi Chuxing to Add Bikes to Their Portfolio

Latest word from the Didi Chuxing office is that they are planning to add bicycles to their popular ride sharing platform which already includes cars, buses, and taxis. These bicycles would be provided as an alternative to users when cars booked via the app get stuck in traffic, ECNS reports.

The aim is to invest in Ofo Bikes, a venture started in 2014 on the Peking University campus which we wrote about not too long ago. The bikes are currently mostly popular in student-heavy areas of Beijing, particularly Haidian District, but have the potential to alleviate more pressure on the road.

"Especially in mega cities in China, there is strong demand to use bikes for short-distance commutes, which is more efficient and environmentally friendly," Zhang Xu, a transport analyst with the Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analysys told ECNS.

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Although the Didi will have to compete with Mobike, which are proving extremely popular given the number of bikes we see in use vs. parked, we can imagine the that the frustration of being stuck in traffic jams in a kuaiche might make hopping onto a Didi bike extremely tempting, and can only help to boost the company's profit.

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Photos: Baidu