Didi to launch new bike-share service in China

World
Europe

China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing announced on Tuesday the launch of its own bike-share platform which will also integrate some existing services, including bluegogo, which was close to bankruptcy.

Ofo, a major bike-sharing brand in China, and Didi’s upcoming own-branded bike-sharing service, will also be on the new platform, Didi said in a press release.

Didi is the largest shareholder of ofo but with the latest move, ofo and Didi may become competitors in the future, news portal tech.qq.com reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous source from ofo.

Bike-sharing in China experienced rapid growth but some brands, such as bluegogo, failed in the cash-burning game.

Bluegogo, known for its blue bikes, survived for only one year after being launched in November 2016.

Bluegogo bikes in Beijing in February 2017 /VCG Photo

In October, the alarm was sounded when users of Bluegogo found that the company could not refund their deposits.

Later most of staff left the company and the CEO Li Gang even fled overseas, leaving behind 200 million yuan (30.7 million US dollars) in debts to about 70 suppliers, according to media reports.

However, Didi’s taking over is not a full acquisition as previous market rumors said.

The announcement said that bluegogo retains its brand name, deposits, debts and other related properties but users will be able to use bluegogo bikes on Didi’s app with no deposit required, and convert the previous deposit to Didi’s coupon.