Bicycles from different bike-sharing services are piled up in an empty field in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei province, in 2018. Bike-sharing services in China have decided to raise prices for more profits after eeking out income through years of intense competition. Photo: VCG

An Ofo shared bicycle is parked among Didi Chuxing’s bike-sharing arm Qingju bicycles in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan province, in 2019. Ofo, a former unicorn in China’s bike-sharing industry, fell into financial trouble in 2018, exiting domestic and international markets. It closed shop two years later. Photo: VCG

A dog chases a shared bicycle in Xiangyang, Central China’s Hubei province, in 2018. The bike-sharing business has been booming in China since 2016. Photo: VCG

A man inspects shared bikes in Liaoning, Northeast China’s Shenyang province, in 2017. Photo: VCG

In 2017, China had more than 77 bike-sharing companies, which distributed more than 23 million bikes to over 200 cities in China, according to a Xinhua report. Photo: VCG

In 2018, Meituan, one of China’s largest online services providers, acquired Mobike, turning its iconic orange shared bikes yellow and launching scooters into the market after that. On Wednesday, the company raised the seven-day membership fee for its service from 10 to 15 yuan. Photo: VCG

Workers maintain shared bikes in Tianjin in 2018. Factors like high operation and maintenance costs mean it is difficult for bike-sharing companies to make a profit. Photo: VCG

A man rides past a pile of abandoned shared bikes in Beijing in 2017. The boom of bike-sharing in China also created oversupply issues, resulting in many bicycle “graveyards” across the country. Photo: VCG

A truck loaded with shared bikes drives on a street in Shenyang in April 2021. Photo: VCG

A shared-bicycle “graveyard” in Xiamen, East China’s Fujian province, in 2018. Photo: Wu Guoyong/VCG

A worker inspects bicycles in a Hellobike parking lot in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan province, in 2021. Statistics show that Hellobike and Meituan dominated the Chinese market after 2018. Photo: VCG