Chinese bike-sharing company to drop 500 bicycles in Cambridge

Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo is to drop 500 bicycles in Cambridge as part of its international roll-out. Ofo – named because of the word’s resemblance to a bicycle – has about 250,000 bikes globally. The bikes do not require docks: they are left in city streets and released via a smartphone app. A ride costs 50p.

The drop of 500 bright-yellow bikes will happen next month and follows a similar roll-out in Singapore.

Uber partner Didi Chuxing is one of the partners in Beijing Bikelock Technology, the $500 million company behind Ofo, and which was only started in 2015.

Al Storer, a committee member of the Cambridge Cycling Campaign, told Wired that an extra 500 bicycles on the streets of the university city could cause problems.

"“There’s nowhere enough cycle parking in the city centre,” he said.

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