TWO WHEELS GOOD

Bike boom nibbles on Asia gasoline demand growth

Ilet alone estimate how much gasoline “There used to be long queues of taxis business for Ofo. car trips among the respondents had more consumption growth has dropped off due to waiting for customers outside train stations, Consultancy Roland Berger said the than halved since its service was introduced. t is not quite going back to the the rapid rise in bike-sharing. but I don’t see them anymore,” said a Beijing “unforeseeable” amounts of venture capital put A report from the Transport Commission horse, even if the bicycle was the But it is clear from industry estimates, analyst, who took part in a survey of bikeinto bike schemes made it almost impossible to of Shenzhen, one of China’s richest cities, said first contraption to replace beasts government reports and a survey that bike share users and wanted to be known only by estimate the growth potential of bike operators, more than 500,000 bike-share units there had as a means of personal transport. services are resulting in fewer trips by motor her surname Wang. particularly in China, over the last two years. replaced nearly 10 per cent of travel by private This is a new two-wheeled animal, vehicles. ASIAN BIKES, ASIAN CITIES Taiwan, where the government backs a car or 13 per cent of gasoline consumption. though, that millions of consumers “Bike-sharing has been crazy since late last Just in the past month, Chinese bikebike-sharing scheme, is aiming to have bikes Bike-sharing could pose a risk to gasoline in Beijing, Taipei, Singapore and cities across year. The general belief is that (it) boosts the sharing start-up Mobike introduced its services account for a 12 per cent share in trips to work consumption “if a stronger state push to reduce Asia are renting via phone apps to cover the last utilization of public transport as shared bikes in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Bangkok, by 2020, up from about 5 per cent now. carbon intensity and improve air quality mile of journeys, leaving cars and motorcycles help to complete the journey,” said Harry Liu, Thailand, as well as in US capital Washington, The Taipei city government is expanding translates to more drivers replacing shorterat home, and forgoing taxis. DC.downstreamconsultantwithIHSMarkit. bike-sharing programme Youbike — which distance driving with bike rides,” said Peter

The two-year bike-share boom has put over Even before the number of bike-share units Mobike, which launched in April 2016, uses docking stations — to have a bike station Lee, an oil and gas analyst at BMI research. 16 million bikes in China alone, according to began growing by multiples, analysts had and China-owned rival Ofo have attracted within a 10-minute walk of every citizen by Chinese growth of passenger car sales, its Ministry of Transport, with more than 100 already been saying greater fuel efficiency in combined funding of more than $2 billion 2018. which grew an average annual rate of 10.1 per million riders registered, eating into car use autos and the rising use of electric cars meant from venture capital and private equity firms Singapore-owned Obike and US-based cent over 2011 to 2016, is expected to slow to and gasoline demand growth already expected gasoline’s big growth story was over. that include Temasek Holdings, Tencent VBikes — both free-range systems — are also 2.5 per cent over the next five years, said BMI’s to stagnate by 2025. Lee.China’sgasolinedemandgrowthisHoldings,DSTGlobalandAntFinancial.operatinginTaiwan.

“I often use bike-sharing services because expected to slow to nearly 4 per cent this year, Ofo — which has more than 10 million “Once bike-sharing pushes it really to the Still, mismanagement of bike numbers and it’s very convenient. I can find it anywhere compared with 6.5 per cent growth last year, bikes globally to Mobike’s 7 million — says it is limit, to the extent to impact the way people misuse of some bicycles may attract legislation and will not worry about losing the bike,” said said Sri Paravaikkarasu, head of East of Suez on track to increase its global bike units to 20 think of mobility, then it could be disruptive,” that could curb their use. life-long Beijing native Wei Zhang, 36, who oil at FGE. million over the next three months. said IHS’s Liu. New shared bikes were recently banned in uses a shared bike several times a week on her And Chinese demand for gasoline is The investments “demonstrate investors’ FOUR WHEELS BAD some areas in the Chinese cities of Wuhan, commute, riding 5 km or more. expected to peak as early as 2025, according to confidence in the global bike-sharing industry,” A survey done by Mobike of 100,000 Shanghai and Guangzhou, because of bicycles

Analysts can’t keep up with bike numbers, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. said Lawrence Cao, head of Asia Pacific customers across 36 cities in China found that being discarded in public spaces.