Intelligent transportation
“The rental price of Mobike is half that of a ride on Shanghai bus, and one third of the subway starting fare,” said Wang Xiaofeng, CEO of Beijing Mobike Technology Co. Ltd. Mobike is a typical example of the sharing economy, as citizens can enjoy lower fee by sharing bikes. “Mobike aims to make every citizen’s short commutes more convenient at a price everyone can afford,” said Wang. The “easy pick-up and easy drop-off” model has maximized the bikes’ use efficiency.
In the long term, the importance of Mobike lies not only in sharing, but also in its environmental protection effects. As the global awareness for environmen- tal protection is increasing, citizens in Chinese cities prefer to use environment-friendly travel methods. Mobike provides people with a convenient, comfortable, low-cost and green way to move about the city. It is consequent with the government’s promotion of clean technologies, like electric cars and other green vehicles. At the same time, it promotes physical health by making it easier for people to ride their bicycles whenever they want.
The popularity of Mobike is also an epitome of the rise of “Internet Plus transportation” in China. Chinese cities are using the “Internet Plus” format to solve problems in public transportation. With the development of the big data industry and cloud computing, the Internet allows citizens to reap the benefits of intelligent transportation.
Like Mobike, more and more platforms are set up to help citizens, communities and regulators promote intelligent transportation, reduce congestion and pollution and build more mobile and smart cities for Chinese people. Some applications focus on booking bus commuting services (Didi Bus); some help locate buses in real-time and estimate their arrival time (Woxing Xuntong); others help users find parking slots (Easy Parking) and organize car-pooling (Dida). “Internet Plus will be plugged into the whole transportation system,” said Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Chuxing, China’s dominant taxi app company.
This move toward intelligent transportation has been firmly supported by the Chinese Government. “The government encourages things that make commuting more convenient for our residents. We are looking forward to the change from offline to online,” said Sun Jianping, former Director of Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission.
In August this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport of China jointly issued a program aimed at facilitating the development of intelligent transportation through Internet Plus technology. The program stated that 27 new projects will be carried out to promote the indepth integration of transportation and the Internet.
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