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You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Steve Hatherly today with Yushan and Yushan.
Coming up, for years, shared e-bikes were the ones that got away, kept out of China's biggest cities while their pedal-powered cousins took over every street corner.
Then Beijing blinked.
New rules just slipped through, bringing e-bikes into the system for the first time.
So what broke the deadlock?
And when the city that said no for so long finally says yes, what happens next?
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For a long time, China's biggest cities have kept shared electric bicycles at arm's length.
I should rephrase electric bikes, not bicycles, right?
They kept them out of the biggest cities when shared bicycles were welcomed.
The reasoning was quite simple.
Safety risks, cluttered streets, and a public transit system that already seemed to cover most of the short trips that people needed to make.
But Beijing has just revised its rules to formally bring shared e-bikes into the regulated fold.
So is Beijing setting an example for how other mega cities can let their e-bikes in?
And why is it happening right now?
I, for one, Yushan and Yushan, am so, so excited about this.
Why?
I think it's going to be a major life upgrade for me.
When my wife and I first moved to Beijing, we met some other expats just out and about, and everybody said the same thing.
Get an e-bike.
Buy an e-bike.
That's what they said.
First thing you have to do is buy an e-bike.
And we didn't because we thought the shared bicycles were enough.
But I've noticed recently that certain aspects of life would be a whole lot more convenient and we're comfortable.
You know what I mean?
We're comfortable with the neighborhood now, so we know where things are.
But I just noticed like, oh, the grocery store, it's a little bit far away.
Which is fine on a bicycle, but if I had an e-bike, it would be so much more convenient.
Or it can just expand the range of your activity.
True.
Also very, very true.
Yeah.
What would be like an hour on a bicycle before might be 30 minutes on an e-bike.
Now, that's another great point.
What I didn't know, and this is the other reason I'm excited to talk about this today, I didn't know that these shared e-bikes existed outside of the megacities but weren't allowed inside until Beijing made this change.
I was so surprised, too, because I've never encountered one until earlier this year when I first landed in Shenyang in northeastern China.
So Shenyang is a smaller city, of course, comparing with Beijing, but it...
Almost released its first few hundreds of e-bikes since almost a decade ago in 2017.
And the approved deployment cap is around 24,000 vehicles nowadays.
So 10 years later, you basically see in every, say, 100 of such shared vehicles,
Vehicles, at least 10% are e-bikes in the city of Shenyang.
Same in Nanning in southwest China's Guangxi Drone Autonomous Region.
They have run shared e-bikes since 2019 and now has about over 134,000 in operation right now with four departments, their transport, their city management,
There are parks like car parking and traffic, police, bureaus, all of such political bodies jointly accessing the operations every month.
So these cities of a smaller scale, they are already operating such a professional, if not mature system on running and operating these EBACs.
But when we look at bigger cities, for example, in Shanghai.
Also in 2017, they issued a guidance that concluded shared e-bikes should not be developed.
Same in Xi'an in central China, they ruled in 2024 that shared e-bikes were not allowed.
Oh, that's only a couple of years ago.
Exactly.
And here in Beijing and also in southern China's Guangzhou, too, no formal ban was issued, but large-scale e-bike development would not be encouraged.
So we see, yeah, there's such a gap previously, but perhaps not anymore.
So the reason that the bigger cities always said no to this, one of the reasons is public transportation.
Yeah.
Most of these bigger cities, they have well-developed and covers.
Public transportation system that most short distance needs.
So while large scale deployment of these shared e-bikes risks disorderly parking and adds pressure to city management.
Not to say about the e-bikes, now the shared bikes, you need to use a lot of labor and space, maintenance costs to handle these kind of things.
And also safety is another major concern.
Experts say shared e-bikes in the past lacked unified standards and also quality varied widely and some vehicles were too fast.
Making accidents more likely.
I have stats from Beijing's Traffic Management Bureau recently reported that in 2025, electric bicycles, not shared e-bikes, but electric bicycles were involved in 35% of all traffic accidents that resulted in fatalities.
Was it last year that we did the story about the changes in the rules that you couldn't modify your e-bike motor?
Yeah, that's the national standard of e-bikes.
25 kilometers per hour and no more.
And also on the material for making these newer e-bikes in China, it's got to be against fire risks kind of materials.
Yes, yes.
On the battery, there's also higher standards too.
So we see on e-bikes, it's always been improving on how good quality they should be.
But on shared e-bikes, I'm always
Kind of on the observation side, I've never really rode on an e-bike before to know how fast it can get.
In your life, you've never been on one?
I've sat on the back seat for somebody else's e-bikes, but not really driving one myself.
You shouldn't
You've used these
Yes yeah i
I've used this as you said like decade ago because in back in my hometown it's been like um everywhere um for a really long time
Why did beijing make this change now what
What happened that made them change
Made the city change its mind
Well, the demand is one thing for sure, because nowadays there's been a lot of last mile traveling that's required for day-to-day citizens.
One obvious revelation of that is the fact that two-wheeled electric vehicle ownership in China has surged.
So as one report from Deloitte reported,
From May 2023 estimated that the country's two-wheeled EV fleet at nearly 350 million units in 2022.
So that's already surpassing the number of cars on the road.
And that scale has created its own crisis too.
The fire caused by charging e-bikes indoors, we've all seen the advertisements and also just reminders from firefighting bureaus.
In your neighborhood saying that you cannot bring e-bikes up or inside any residential building or even bringing the batteries inside for charging out of the exact same reason, against fire hazardous.
So part of the reason that Beijing maybe said yes now is because the city's ready.
Yeah.
Right.
The rules and regulations are in place.
Here's what you can do.
Here's what you can't do.
And it's very clear to everyone.
And therefore now it's OK.
Yeah.
I think after later last year, the new national standard for e-bikes rolled out, the quality and also the regulations has upgraded to a level that people can, based on that, start to see how our life can be further enhanced.
Buy e-bikes now that they're becoming better.
So that's one thing.
Our team member, Yang Yang, I was curious to know, are people going to be in love with this idea or not?
So Yang Yang went around the office and just asked people,
Are you excited about this?
What are your thoughts or any concerns that you might have about this new policy where you're going to see a lot more e-bikes, shared e-bikes entering into the city of Beijing?
And this is what they said.
Well, I'm not an e-bike rider, so I don't think that I will ride an e-bike even with the policy.
I'm a big fan of e-bikes.
I think it's a long overdue decision.
I think it should have come earlier.
I used to ride e-bikes a lot with my family.
I tried ABEX in other cities when I was in college and I think it's quite convenient.
It helps me save a lot of time for work and a lot of money because I didn't have to pay money to buy a bag or a car.
I just don't know how it will evolve in the future.
These additional e-bikes will make traffic even more terrible
And the second concern would be when you ride through the border between like Changping and Haidian
I just don't know if the e-bikes will remind you you're okay you are crossing border you are not allowed to ride here or not
So it's very complicated
So I just don't know how the
Company will solve this problem here
Probably in the future we're going to see an increasing number of shared e-bike riders on the streets and for a pedestrian like me probably my biggest concern is safety
And also if someone get injured in a back accident how can we deal with it
Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about when we are having this feedback, someone would break traffic rules.
I'm worried about the parking problem.
If there is a proper law or a market rule to better manage it,
There's probably something city planners can do when it comes to just e-bikes parking.
Keep the streets clean and organized for people that are not using it.
Thank you to Yang Yang for asking those people for us.
Do you guys share any of those concerns?
I think parking for one is my biggest concern.
Yeah, where are they going to put them?
Yeah, we already have a lot of shared bikes, and we see bunches and bunches of them piled up on a three-wheel, like a little trolley kind of cart.
Being transported between residential buildings and metro stations and vice versa during peak hours very often.
Because after getting off work, a lot of people ride those e-bikes back home.
So causing a gathering around of a huge density of those bikes on one spot.
So that brings to one big issue on just how many staff are going to be assigned to maintain and, you know, keep an eye on such things.
I'm not worried about the staff.
They'll figure that out.
I mean, for companies, this is something that they need to figure out, and also how many bikes they are to release out there on a monthly, if not annually, basis.
So for example, did you know that this is under the new rules requirement too?
Did you know that for every 1,000 e-bikes
They need roughly eight to 13 maintenance workers, comparing that with only three to five workers for every 1,000 shared bicycles.
Oh, well, that could be a good job creation thing then.
From that direction
Right it is and actually I think that's what these companies they need to figure out
One thing is that the maintenance workers and another thing is there are first of all regulations on how many bikes or e-bikes that you can release and
There's a kind of ratio that you can put in the city.
So that's one thing that they can control.
And another thing is that I think these companies will figure out which part of the city needs
The e-bikes, which part they're probably in more need of the shared bikes.
And they are the companies that will figure out and decide the ratio of these two types of shared bikes.
And I think people will also understand why this is
More centered area.
You do not need a license to operate one of these things, but there are rules.
A child cannot hop on one of these e-bikes.
The age, operation age, I think is what, 16 years old?
Yeah, the cap is 16.
Yeah, so we don't have to worry about kids, but I would still worry about safety because I have been on one of these things before.
And when you are new to driving one of these things...
25 kilometers an hour.
We were chatting before the show and Yushin said, oh, that's not fast at all.
Because Fei Fei said she's terrified to try.
I was too.
Well, 25 kilometers an hour, relatively speaking to a Ferrari, is slow.
But if you're not used to it, it feels like a Ferrari.
And also the braking system, it feels absolutely different from just on the bike.
If you're not used to it, you don't know how.
And when you hit that accelerator, that thing takes off a lot faster than you expect it to.
Now, of course, you can control the accelerator, but my point is if you don't have a license and if you've never learned and there's nobody to teach you, I see a huge potential for an increase.
In the number of accidents on the road, because when you're a new person to anything, you feel anxious and nervous.
Now, combine that with being in Beijing traffic with all the other scooters and bicycles on the road.
People panic when they get into situations they're not familiar with.
I would worry about that.
Well, new players is one thing and new beginners of e-bikes can become familiar with it a while later.
But how about other problems?
Like how the last mile traveling is being replaced?
Like some of the traditional ways such as buses for example because research already showed that in larger cities shared e-bike trip distances and use cases already overlap with taxis and
It can substitute for them and not to mention buses and other public transportation.
It's competition.
There's no doubt about it.
It's going to eat into some of the people who take the bus on a regular basis.
Definitely.
When I was traveling in a city that has shared e-bikes, if our destination was about like three kilometers away, but less than 10 kilometers, we will definitely just choose a shared e-bike because that's more convenient, even sometimes cheaper.
So there are competitions and there are hurdles when driving these kind of shared e-bikes.
But I would say, of course, you will have concerns when you have never tried shared e-bikes.
When you're on these kind of things, they're much easier.
Are we going to see L3 autonomous e-bikes in the future?
I don't think you will need that.
Please don't.
Probably not.
That sounds not safe.
Here's a factor.
The price is going to be about triple compared to a shared bicycle.
That might be a deciding factor.
For a lot of people not to use these things on a regular basis, because if you're going here and there and here and there every single day, that price can add up really, really quickly.
The starting price is two and a half yuan for 15 minutes and then one yuan for every extra five minutes, if I understood what I read correctly.
Yeah, that's when you will do the calculation.
If there are like two person together and you need to get one get to one destination for around three kilometers, maybe take a taxi is even cheaper than, you know, renting two shared e-bikes.
Yeah, yeah.
That's right.
That's probably 15 yuan for your 30 minute ride.
And then you can just howl a taxi for around 10 yuan.
I'll walk.
You're not going to use them, huh?
Not really.
No, you're not interested.
Is it because you're nervous about it because you haven't tried before?
And also, as a driver of a car, I always see e-bikes on the road less safe than other types of vehicles.
Yeah.
I think my biggest concern is just the parking.
Like, where are these things going to go?
Because if you pull up to the front of a shopping mall, it's already super packed outside because all of the delivery riders on their scooters are taking up so much space.
It's so annoying.
I know they're doing their job, but still.
That's a good point.
Yep.
And all around subway stations, there's so many bicycles and e-bikes now.
Where are they going to put these things?
They might have to create extra parking spaces for these.
I don't know.
All right.
We're going to leave it.
There for round table four today.
Just before we wrap up, I'll remind you that next Wednesday, we're doing our Chinese Valentine's Day special.
So we're asking you what is the most important thing that you look for when you're trying to find a partner and also
What's it like dating in China in 2026?
Or if you live in another city, tell us about that too.
Roundtable podcast at QQ.com.
Roundtable podcast at QQ.com.
Send your emails and voice notes there.
For Yushan and Yushan, I'm Steve Hatherly.
Thanks for today and come back again next time.
