I knew the bike sharing economy had gotten out of hand when I woke up this morning to find stacks of competing yellow and orange rent-a-bikes blocking the door to my bedroom. I swiped a few QR codes and pedaled them down to the kitchen. There, I found a neat row of blue bikes lined up in front of the refrigerator, so I swiped yet another QR code, duct taped my dog to the seat and wheeled her outside for the morning constitutional. Just another day in the scan-and-go digital commonweal.
Bike sharing has been one of the best things to happen to Beijing in a long time, but like any disruptive new business model, it has its problems. My concern is that the Beijing municipal and district governments will kill bicycle sharing before these issues can be resolved.