The Bike-Share Oversupply in China: Huge Piles of Abandoned and Broken Bicycles

Last year, bike sharing took off in China, with dozens of bike-share companies quickly flooding city streets with millions of brightly colored rental bicycles. However, the rapid growth vastly outpaced immediate demand and overwhelmed Chinese cities, where infrastructure and regulations were not prepared to handle a sudden flood of millions of shared bicycles. Riders would park bikes anywhere, or just abandon them, resulting in bicycles piling up and blocking already-crowded streets and pathways. As cities impounded derelict bikes by the thousands, they moved quickly to cap growth and regulate the industry. Vast piles of impounded, abandoned, and broken bicycles have become a familiar sight in many big cities. As some of the companies who jumped in too big and too early have begun to fold, their huge surplus of bicycles can be found collecting dust in vast vacant lots. Bike sharing remains very popular in China, and will likely continue to grow, just probably at a more sustainable rate. Meanwhile, we are left with these images of speculation gone wild—the piles of debris left behind after the bubble bursts.

Read more
Hints: View this page full screen. Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.

Most Recent

  • Adem Altan / Agence France-Presse

    Winners of the 2024 World Press Photo Contest

    Some of the winning and honored entries in this year’s annual photo competition

  • Hulton Archive / Getty

    The Bicycles of World War II

    Images of some of the many ways people put bicycles to use during the Second World War

  • Emma McIntyre / Getty for Coachella

    Scenes From Coachella 2024

    Images of this year’s performances and concertgoers during the first weekend of Coachella 2024

  • Brittainy Newman / AP

    Photos of the Week: Solar Oasis, Leaf Spirit, Burning Judas

    The World Coal Carrying Championships in England, damage from an earthquake in Taiwan, a destroyed hospital in the Gaza Strip, a beekeeper at work in Ukraine, and much more