Guangzhou authority urges bike-sharing enterprises to strengthen management of the existing shared bikes and to recycle broken ones in a timely fashion, Guangzhou Daily reported.

About 20 million shared bikes were put on the Chinese market in 2017. Excessive supply of the bikes has brought lots of problems, for example, scattered bikes on the streets are tarnishing the image of the city.

Chen Liang, partner of the Guangdong-based Everwin Law Office, suggested the urban management department clean up the broken shared bikes on city streets in a timely manner, and make the relevant bike-sharing enterprises pay for it.

Although the Guangzhou government decided on August 24, 2017, to stop adding new shared bikes to the city’s streets, some bike-sharing enterprises still kept adding new bikes to ensure their market share.

In addition, the operational and maintenance cost of each shared bike is about 1,000 yuan ($155.4), which is higher than the price for a new one.

Last November, there were public complaints that more than 200 suspected new shared bikes were put on the streets in Tianhe District. Ofo, one of the major bike-sharing enterprises in China, was also accused of adding new shared bikes at a metro station in the city. The Guangzhou authority quickly questioned and criticized the enterprises.

Mobike and Ofo, two major bike-sharing enterprises in China, have not yet responded to questions about the number of broken shared bikes, maintenance issues, and how to locate and recycle the broken bikes.