Share Bikes, Stacked High

Years ago, I blogged about Mobike and how it was changing the way we commute in Shanghai. That’s old news now. COVID has come and gone (sort of). But we’re still using these shared bikes. Now there are two big names: Meituan (unlock the bikes by scanning their QR codes with WeChat) and Hello Bike (unlock the bikes by scanning their QR codes with AliPay).

These shared bikes are all over the city. Sometimes there are so many of them in one area that a sidewalk will be completely blocked. In order to redistribute the bikes in a useful way, you often see big trucks collecting the bikes from an area overflowing with them in order to send them somewhere they’re needed.

And then you might also see this:

(Videos courtesy of Issac L.)