The Unexpected Beauty Of China's Bicycle Graveyards

For the past 18 months, many cities in China have been flooded by millions of dockless share bikes. Those that block pavements or apartment entrances have been removed by authorities to vast storage areas. Viewed from afar they create compelling and mysterious patterns – but also represent waste on an enormous scale.

At first glance, the photos vaguely resemble a painting. On closer inspection, it might be a giant sculpture or some other art project. But in reality, it is a mangled pile of bicycles covering an area roughly the size of a football pitch, and so high that cranes are needed to reach the top; cast-offs from the boom and bust of China’s bike sharing industry.

Just two days after China’s number three bike sharing company went bankrupt, a photographer in the south-eastern city of Xiamen captured a bicycle graveyard where thousands have been laid to rest. The pile clearly contains thousands of bikes from each of the top three companies, Mobike, Ofo and the now-defunct Bluegogo.

Once hailed as “Uber for bikes”, China’s cycle hire startups allowed users to unlock GPS-enabled bikes with their smartphone, and drop them off anywhere without the need to park it at a dock.

Customers are charged just pennies per 30 minute ride, but competing companies have flooded cities with bikes to ensure cycles are always available. The top two firms have each raised more than $1bn (£750m) in funding.

Shanghai currently has 1.5m shared bikes on the streets, and despite its population being three times greater than London, that number far outstrips the 11,000 Santander Cycles peppered throughout the UK capital.

The large number of cycles on Chinese streets has led to scenes of clogged sidewalks no longer fit for pedestrians and piles of mangled bikes that have been illegally parked.

But the scene in Xiamen appears to be one of the largest amalgamations of discarded bicycles, with trucks unloading bikes from around the city.

 Article: The Gaurdian

We Challenge You to #CleanUpYourAdventures

As a company that believes in helping to save our planet, in 2018, we took up an Eco Pledge and we want to challenge other South African businesses to do the same.   Select an area that is special to you. Everyone has one. An area that you always say: “I wish they wouldn’t make such a mess” or “I wish they would clean that up”.  

Go there, and clean it.   Do your part for the greater good.  

It’s a great team-building initiative, it motivates staff and it’s one step closer to a better tomorrow.