Late last month, Lanzhou joined the ever-growing bike-share boom as it launched China’s latest public bike system.

Exceeding expectations, the first phase of Lanzhou’s bike-share brings 111 stations, 2,795 docks and 2,000 bikes to the city’s downtown Chenguan District. A modern, high-tech system, all stations are equipped with automatic docks and the system shares an access card with the city’s high-quality BRT. On its first day in service, local residents logged more than 2,400 trips. To help city residents learn to use the new system, the Lanzhou Bus Company (which operates the public bike system), provided volunteers throughout the first week at stations.

As with many public bike share systems in China, the first hour of use is free. This makes it easy for Lanzhou residents to use the system for daily trips to work, school, or shopping. For riders interested in longer trips, hours two and three cost one yuan (1RMB), or roughly 16 US cents, each. Between three and twelve hours, each hour costs 3 RMB, and hours 12-48 cost 5 RMB each.

The city based the system design on recommendations from ITDP. After conducting a feasibility study, ITDP drafted system planning and operational plans for Lanzhou, recommending station locations, a management plan and an operating company. ITDP continued consulting as the system was implemented, and will continue to advise on the expansions planned for later this year.

When the system expands, it will rank among the biggest bike-shares in China and become a model for modal integration worldwide. The city has plans to bring the system up to nearly 10,000 bikes and 390 stations. The expansion will add coverage to the Anning and Qilihe districts, home to Lanzhou’s high-quality BRT system. The next phase will place bike-share docks at every BRT station in the area, solving the ‘last mile’ problem for many Lanzhou citizens.

Photos from opening day of the Lanzhou bike-share:

   
All photos credit ITDP China.