Public bicycles are unpopular, investors report losses

After more than a year of piloting, many public bicycle stations in Hanoi have fallen into a state of disrepair and have not attracted users.

To support businesses, Hanoi continues to waive sidewalk rental fees and is researching to subsidize prices like buses.

The bike station is deserted.

On the afternoon of March 26, at the public bicycle station near the Youth Academy on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, the reporter recorded that, although it was rush hour, within about 30 minutes, there was only one young man coming here to rent a bicycle.

Public bicycle service has not yet attracted people to use it due to many inconveniences.

Ms. Nguyen Thuy Huong, a fast food vendor at the gate of the Youth Academy, said: "During the day, very few people rent bicycles to go to school or work. Only at night do students or families come to rent them to go out or exercise."

To help public bicycle services attract more users, it is necessary to study routes that are eligible to build more dedicated bicycle lanes, helping people to travel more conveniently.

The organizing unit also needs to increase the coverage network of stations and the number of vehicles at each station should be arranged reasonably and sufficiently. Finally, the procedures for service users should be concise and simplified to suit many subjects.

Traffic specialist Nguyen Xuan Thuy

Right below the Cat Linh metro station, Cat Linh street has a public bicycle rental station, but very few people need to use it. After each train, people travel by parking their personal vehicles here or by motorbike taxi or bus.

For more than half a year, Mr. Nguyen Hai (28 years old, Hoan Kiem district) has chosen public bicycles as a means of transportation to go for a walk, sightsee or exercise every day.

"It only takes about 3 minutes to walk from my house to the nearest public bike station, so every morning I take my bike to exercise.

I find the cost of using this bicycle quite affordable, but using it to go to work is not as convenient as using a personal vehicle," said Mr. Hai.

Meanwhile, after a period of using public bicycles, Tran Minh Huong (Ha Dong, Hanoi) shared: "Normally, public bicycles often have faulty locks, and when returning the bicycles, they are often not accepted.

I often have to call the hotline, then they will help me lock and return the bike. Finding it inconvenient, I switched to taking the bus."

Business reports loss

According to Mr. Do Ba Quan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tri Nam Digital Transport Company, after more than a year of piloting (from August 24, 2023), the company has deployed more than 800 mechanical bicycles at 90 locations in 6 districts.

Few people use public bicycles to go to school or work due to their limited features compared to motorbikes.

The service has attracted more than 833,000 registered customers, with an average of nearly 700 new registrations per day. Since the pilot, 533,000 trips have been made, with an average of about 900 trips per day.

"Currently, there are nearly 1,000 people using monthly tickets to travel every day. They use them regularly, 1-2 trips/day, mainly concentrated at metro stations," Mr. Quan said, admitting that there are few people using public bicycles to go to school or work due to their limited features compared to motorbikes.

Therefore, the company is coordinating with localities to review and continue to put 80 more stations into operation with about 500 motorbikes, concentrated in Hoan Kiem and Ba Dinh districts to attract more users.

According to Mr. Quan, although the sidewalk use is free for the pilot, the public bicycle service is still not profitable.

The cost of the pilot investment was over 6.4 billion VND, but the revenue after one year only reached 3.7 billion VND. Currently, the company continues to incur losses but has not yet released a specific financial report.

"We are determined to "run the long haul" with the service, still in the investment phase, the business hopes that later when Hanoi restricts personal vehicles, it will attract more users," Mr. Quan shared.

Study subsidies like buses

Mr. Nguyen Tuyen, Head of the Department of Transport Management and Traffic Safety (Hanoi Department of Construction) assessed that the operating unit is still operating and learning from experience, so there will definitely be a solution in the near future.

"We also asked them to arrange more motorbikes to attract people to go to work and school. Arrangements are also being made to arrange more stations," said Mr. Tuyen.

Regarding the mechanism and policies to support businesses, Mr. Tuyen said: "Currently, Hanoi continues to exempt sidewalk rental fees, and subsidies like for buses are still being studied."

According to Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former Director of the Transport Publishing House and an expert in urban transport research, public bicycle services have not yet attracted people to use them for many different reasons.

Firstly, the traffic infrastructure is not yet qualified to meet the demand, many roads and lanes dedicated to bicycles are still limited.

The second reason comes from people's travel habits. Third, the current procedures and processes for using public bicycle services are barriers for the elderly, because everything is resolved online.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/ha-noi-xe-dap-cong-cong-e-khach-chu-dau-tu-bao-lo-192250327220250416.htm