Bike theft puts the brakes on China's Mobike in Mexico City

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Chinese bike-sharing company Mobike entered the Latin American market in Mexico City this year drawn by its millions of potential clients. Now it has run into a problem increasingly plaguing the country: street crime.

Theft has been so widespread that in the past few days, dozens of the app’s customers have complained on social media about the lack of available bicycles. Many of them said that they are thinking hard about switching to the competition.

Mobike, the largest bike-sharing company in the world, said shortages were due to theft as well as growing demand for the 500 bicycles available in a small part of the capital while it awaits clearance from city authorities to expand further.

A man moves a Mobike after Chinese bike sharing company MOBIKE launched its service in Mexico City, Mexico, February 28, 2018. /VCG Photo

Mobike has been working with law enforcement agencies in Mexico City to recover the stolen bicycles, said Rene Ojeda, director of the Mexican arm of the Beijing-based company.

Since it entered the Mexican market in mid-February, Mobike subscriptions have risen by 70 percent per week, he said.

But the Chinese company faces stiff competition in the capital. Mexican VBike operates with some 2,000 bicycles and EcoBici, a bike-sharing firm launched by Mexico City’s government, has 6,500 units and more than 260,000 users.

“Mobike was a good option for me since I work in the area,” said Fernando Galicia, a disgruntled Mobike user in the metropolis. “But I’ve gone to EcoBici, and not because it’s cheaper, but because they always have bikes.”

Arantxa Nava, another Mobike user in Miguel Hidalgo, a wealthier borough and the only one where Mobike currently operates, complained she “never” came across available bikes.

A Mobike is pictured after Chinese bike sharing company MOBIKE launched its service in Mexico City, Mexico, February 28, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Mobike, which recently changed hands for 2.7 billion US dollars, equips its bicycles with an electronic alarm that alerts the company when one of them leaves its operating zone.

Each bike also carries more than 60 patented parts so that they cannot be sold for use on other bicycles.

For now, those bikes thieves have gotten away with it.

Theft is not a problem unique to Mobike in Mexico.

This week, business leaders called out the government over a recent crime wave that has hit Mexico and forced several firms to shut down operations or spend millions of dollars on security in Latin America’s second-largest economy.

(Top image: Mobikes are parked next to an avenue after Chinese bike sharing company MOBIKE launched its service in Mexico City, Mexico, February 28, 2018. /Reuters Photo)

Source(s): Reuters