Shanghai prohibits the use of electric motorcycles for rent

The Shanghai authorities have banned the use of electric motorcycles for hire, in a guideline that seeks to regulate the use of this type of vehicle in the most populated city from China.

Beijing, Nov 10 (EFE) .- The authorities in Shanghai have banned the use of electric motorcycles for hire, in a directive that seeks to regulate the use of this type of vehicle in the most populous city in China.

According to the state news agency Xinhua published Friday, the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission has banned, after a period of proof, the use of electric motorbikes rented, which in that metropolis amount to 60,000.

Vehicles will be removed gradually, as one official of the Commission, while the almost two million non-electric rental bicycles distributed throughout the city may continue to be used, although under new conditions for companies managers.

The new regulation requires companies that rent bicycles to register the license plates of each vehicle with the authorities, save the initial deposits of the clients in open bank accounts in Shanghai and provide users with adequate insurance.

Of the 16 million rental bicycles that are distributed throughout China - with more than 130 million users-, 1.78 million are in the city of Shanghai, the most populated city in China, with about 30 million inhabitants.

Faced with the growing offer of leasing services for bicycles (there are more than 70 Chinese brands that are dedicated to this business) other large cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen or Tianjin have already imposed limits beforehand in order to avoid more mass.

However, and despite the efforts of the Chinese authorities to stop the expansion of this business, before the problems that have begun to occur this year -the one of the great expansion of this industry- since the high number of bicycles crowded on streets and sidewalks sometimes forces pedestrians to walk on the roadway.

In response to this citizen demand, the municipalities of these metropolises have designated specific parking areas and have banned parking inside residential areas, in addition to demanding companies managers that take care of clearing the sidewalks periodically.

Many of these companies are already going out to the foreign market and making room in many cities European.

Madrid, for example, already has three rental services for electric motorcycles, managed by the brands eCooltra, Muving and loScoot.

Other firms such as Yugo are He hopes that they will soon arrive in the Spanish capital, although he already operates in Barcelona.

The rental bikes without a fixed base have also arrived in Madrid, but the City Council has already announced that it will regulate the sector to avoid an invasion of sidewalks and public spaces.