The new free-floating bike-sharing system arrives in Italy courtesy of Chinese company Mobike: all the benefits of GPS and a credit system that rewards good behaviour.
The philosophy of free-floating bike sharing is gaining ground in Florence and Milan. Chinese company Mobike has obtained the opportunity to develop its bicycle-sharing system in Italy — one that does not require users to return bikes to designated docking stations. Mobike was presented in the Tuscan capital by Mayor Dario Nardella, with the participation of Milan's mayor Beppe Sala, who is ready to welcome the service to his city as well.
Both Italian cities already have a traditional bike-sharing system with respectable results. Following the experiment carried out in Bari, this is the first time that free floating has been definitively proposed in our country.
The launch takes place on 2 August in Florence, with a fleet of five hundred bicycles that will grow to four thousand between September and October. It is also during this period that the Mobike service will be inaugurated in Milan. The Lombard capital will be able to count on a fleet of twelve thousand bicycles.
Mobike is the free-floating bike-sharing system developed by a Chinese group. Thanks to technologies such as GPS and a smart lock, it is possible to leave the bicycle at various points around the city without having to return it to dedicated docking stations.
Mobike uses a patented design, a smart locking system and a smartphone app. The bicycle frame and smart lock have been created to make short-distance journeys easier and more practical. On the website it is also possible to suggest that bicycles be distributed near one's home, workplace or children's school.
In addition to locking and unlocking the bicycle and automatic payment, users can consult their total distance travelled, trip details and available credit through their Mobike account.
To increase the effectiveness of the service, Mobike bike sharing has created a credit points system to reward the best users and penalise the worst. Each new user is entitled to one hundred credit points and can hold a maximum of ten thousand points and a minimum of zero points. A high credit score indicates correct use of the services and good conduct, while a low score indicates improper and inappropriate use of the service.
Here are some positive examples listed on the website: "Good conduct includes parking your bike in Mobike Preferred Locations, reporting bicycles that are poorly parked or damaged, and providing details and photos of where you have parked so that the next user can find the bicycle more easily."
Poor conduct, on the other hand, causes a reduction in available credit, up to the risk of having one's account frozen if the credit drops to zero. According to Mobike, the most heavily penalised behaviours are using a private lock, forgetting to lock the bicycle so that it is lost, and illegally transporting the bicycle. When points fall below eighty, the rate for using Mobike rises to as much as 100 euros per 30 minutes.
