Bluegogo Bikes are Back in Beijing and Shenzhen

By Bailey Hu

Bluegogo fans, we have some good and bad news.

On the upside, a partial takeover by ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has revived the once-bankrupt bike brand, according to a report by Technode. As of Wednesday, Didi launched bike-sharing services in Beijing and Shenzhen, allowing residents to search for and unlock Bluegogo and Ofo bikes using the Didi app.

Former Bluegogo users won't get their deposits back, but they can opt to receive Didi coupons of equivalent value until July 17. Bluegogo employees will also finally get their backpay.       

Bluegogo is back, thanks to Didi

Plus, so long as users submit their Alipay Sesame Credit scores, no deposit is necessary to book Bluegogo bikes. Deposits will still be required for Ofo bikes, however.

According to information provided in the app, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing can also look forward to releases of Didi's bike-share function in the 'near future.'

READ MORE: The Rise of Bike Sharing and China's Love Affair with Cycling

Now for the bad news.

The bike-sharing option is currently only available for mainland Chinese citizens. According to Didi customer service personnel, the system, which requires real-name registration, only accepts Chinese IDs at this time. Foreign citizens, plus Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents, are effectively barred from registering.

What's more, while non-mainlanders can still convert their Bluegogo balance into Didi coupons, at least some of the money takes the form of bike ride vouchers.

When we converted our remaining Bluegogo cash (all of RMB5), for instance, we received five essentially useless RMB1 bike vouchers good for one year. And while Didi offers other conversion options for deposits, all involve a substantial amount of bike vouchers.

In other words, if you're a foreigner itching to get your money back, it may be better to wait for Didi to expand its services to passport-holders.

Despite the setback, the future is looking a lot brighter for Bluegogo. The company's collapse last fall, which put millions of user deposits in jeopardy, had served as a cautionary tale for China's over-saturated shared bike market.

But Didi at least seems undeterred. The company, besides acquiring part of Bluegogo and releasing its new platform, is also Ofo's largest shareholder. Didi also announced earlier this month that it plans to one day release its own brand of shared bikes.

[Images via Geekpark.net, Didi]

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