World’s largest smart bike sharing platform to launch in Greater Manchester

Steve Pyer, General Manager of Mobike UK

Mobike, the world’s first and largest smart bike-share, has announced the launch of its popular bike-sharing service in Manchester and Salford.

Steve Pyer, General Manager of Mobike UK

The service works by downloading the Mobike app, finding a nearby Mobike, scanning its QR code and then customers are free to ride around the city.

Mobike’s scheme will launch with an initial 1,000 bikes, with that number expected to increase to meet growing demand for the service. Mobike has agreed a voluntary code of working with Manchester City Council, Salford City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).

“Our aim is to be responsible, sustainable and innovative,” said Steve Pyer, General Manager of Mobike UK. “We’re confident that Manchester and its residents will immediately see the benefits of our services, and the city will become a showcase for the urban transformation that is possible when cycling usage rises, and city planning leverages smart data.”

Every Mobike is equipped with unique smart-lock technology and built-in GPS connected via the Mobike IoT network. This is an invaluable feature for cities, which no other bike sharing company provides. Mobike’s technology locates and monitors the health of each bike, as well as location-based demands for bikes, to manage supply and help solve the ‘last-mile’ challenge.

“We are excited that Manchester has the opportunity to be at the forefront of trialling this cutting-edge, app-based cycle hire scheme in the UK,” added Sir Richard Leese, the Leader of Manchester City Council. “This is another way in which we can encourage residents to choose active, environmentally friendly travel and we look forward to working closely with Mobike and Transport for Greater Manchester in the coming weeks, to examine and assess how the scheme will work in practice.”

Mobike is also a pioneer in using GPS technology to leverage real-time trip and city data to better serve users and cities. The company uses data analytics to not only allocate their fleet across the city depending on traffic, weather and other variables, but also support city planners, local businesses and authorities in a variety of smart urban planning projects.

Manchester and Salford are the company’s first host cities outside of Asia and officially kicks off Mobike’s European expansion, with the aim to provide its affordable and environmentally-friendly service to a series of European cities over the next few months.

“We’re very excited to make Manchester and Salford Mobike’s first European partners,” concluded Weiwei Hu, founder of Mobike. “They have long been a European leader in culture, innovation and technology and were carefully selected as promising and highly-suited Mobike cities. The councils and TfGM are ideal partners to help the people of Manchester and Salford make the most of our high-tech offering.”

Mobike launched in April 2016 and has since deployed across China and Singapore – Manchester and Salford are the 100th cities to host the service. The company now operates more than 5 million smart bikes, and supports over 20 million rides every day.