At least 6,000 shared bicycles will be put into use in Tongzhou district's urban area by the end of December, and 70 percent of them will be electric ones debuting in the district. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

At least 6,000 shared bicycles will be put into use in Tongzhou district's urban area by the end of December, 70 percent of which will be electric and making their debut in the district, according to the district urban management bureau.

It is the first time that Tongzhou has introduced an Internet rental bicycle service project through public bidding. In the past, public bicycles were invested by the government and maintained and managed by private enterprises. Citizens paid the guarantee deposit in advance, and then used the bicycles with their bus cards.

The shared bicycle project is completely invested, maintained and managed by the bid-winning company, which owns all the equipment and vehicle property rights.

According to Chen Feng, in charge of the project, there are only 80 parking lots for shared bicycles in Tongzhou's urban area. To meet the travel demands of more citizens, there will be 500 lots for shared bicycles after project completion, covering such places such as residence communities, commercial complexes, farmer's markets, gardens and parks, as well as bus stations.

In addition, citizens don't have to apply for a special card to use the bicycles. Using Alipay or other Apps to scan the QR code on the bicycle, and following the prompts, people can rent the bikes deposit-free. The charging standard for a shared bicycle is two yuan ($0.3) per hour and for electric ones is four yuan per hour.