Starting on 29 April 2017, users can easily rent a bicycle from one of the six leading bike-sharing companies in China via Alipay without installing additional mobile apps.
Alipay’s “Scan & Ride” function connects six bike sharing brands including Ofo, Youonbike, Bluegogo, Hellobike, Funbike, and Ubike, offering a total number of over six million shared bicycles across 50 cities in China.
Currently, shared bikes on the streets require the download, installation, and registration of mobile apps; some may ask for cash deposits. Skipping all these delivers better user experience and convenience. These bike-sharing apps sitting on top of Alipay app achieves that; and, the idea is very similar to WeChat launched Mini-Program.
All the six bike-sharing companies but Hellobike also joined Alipay’s riding protection program, which offers insurance to bike riders.
China bike-sharing market is estimated to reach US$1.5 billion (+735.8%) and 209 million users in 2017. Read China bike-sharing market insights in Q1 2017 →
Update (30 April 2017): Mobike reported an addition of 24 million newly registered users on 28 April 2017 after being integrated with WeChat since 29 March 2017, an increase of over 200%.
Check out the UN report: The growth of digital payment ecosystems in China: what it means for other countries