With the rising trend of communal bicycles in China, many entrepreneurs are wondering whether to also bring the trend to Hong Kong. However, due to various reasons, I believe that the presence of communal bicycles in Hong Kong would be a nuisance rather than a convenience.
I would first like to start by pointing out the attitude of the locals towards bicycles. In Hong Kong, where bicycles are promoted as a form of leisure, locals scarcely consider bicycles as a type of transport. The mindset of bicycles being merely for leisure and exercising purposes has been deeply planted in locals, and this is something which will take a lot of effort to change. Scarcely anyone rides a bicycle to their destination in this city, and the only chance of encountering a bicycle when one is in a car is at cycling spots. May I point out that the fundamental purpose of communal bicycles is to provide a convenient means of transport, and thus if the locals themselves do not consider it so, then what is the purpose of providing such services? If no one actually uses the bicycles for transport, then parking such communal bicycles everywhere would be a waste of resources, not to mention a nuisance.
Furthermore, the presence of communal bicycles might affect pedestrians. Due to Hong Kong’s streets being already narrow, if communal bicycles were placed along the streets, then the entire street would be blocked, or at least the walking space would be narrowed. If the streets were clogged with bicycles, then it would seriously affect the pedestrians, especially when few locals use such services, which leaves plenty of bikes on the streets to block people. The matter of walking space has long been a heated topic in Hong Kong, and having communal bicycles would only worsen the matter, which deems it as a nuisance. Therefore, due to the aspect of communal bicycles failing to fulfil their purpose and also clogging up streets, I believe that communal sharing bicycles would be more a nuisance than a convenience.