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Mobike (p=mó bài dān chē), also known as Meituanbike, founded by Beijing Mobike Technology Co., Ltd. (s=北京摩拜科技有限公司), is a fully station-less bicycle-sharing system headquartered in Beijing, China. It is, by the number of bicycles, the world's largest shared (for hire) bicycle operator, making Hangzhou the world's largest bike-share city as of September 2015. In April 2018, it was acquired by a Chinese web company Meituan-Dianping for USD $2.7 billion.
In December 2016, the company made Shanghai the world's largest bike-share city.
In June 2017, Mobike raised $600 million USD in Series E funding led by Tencent, bringing the firm's fund raising in 2017 alone to nearly US$1 billion. In the same month, the company was valued at US$3 billion.
In April 2018, the firm was acquired by a Chinese web company Meituan-Dianping for US$2.7 billion.
In August 2018, Mobike launched an Electric bicycle of their orange bicycle.
In December 2018, Hu Weiwei resigned as chief executive for "personal reasons" and was replaced by Eric Yu Liu.
On 21 March 2017, Mobike started operations in Singapore, the company's first overseas market.
Mobike Japan was launched on 22 June 2017, Fukuoka being its first recipient. In Osaka, to gain traction for its e-bike business, Panasonic partnered with Chinese Mobike to explore the possibilities of an electric-bike-sharing service in Japan.
On 31 August 2017, Mobike announced its official launch in Thailand with its partnership with AIS, Central Pattana and Kasertsat University. At the beginning of 2018, Mobike Thailand team launched its second city as Chiang Mai – Northern Thailand's largest city. Mobike's launch is directly in line with the city government's "Non-Motorised Transport" (NMT) initiative, which focuses on promoting ecotourism through the development of a sustainable urban transport system. Mobike ceased operations in Chiang Mai, mid 2019.
On 6 September 2017, Mobike officially launched in Malaysia, with the first bikes being rolled out in Setia Alam and Cyberjaya just a month later.
In November 2017 and February 2018, Mobike launched its service in Sydney and the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia respectively.
In May 2018, Mobike launched its operations in Israel in cities including Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Rehovot and Kiryat Bialik.
On 11 March 2019, Mobike requested to surrender its bicycle sharing license and cease all operation in Singapore. The Associated Press reported that Mobike was shutting down operations in South and Southeastern Asia following the footsteps of rival Ofo who had already began winding down its international division. The remaining 25,000 bikes are handed over to SG Bike on 13 September 2019 after approval from Singapore's Land Transport Authority.
In Italy, Mobike began operations initially in Florence in July 2017, followed by Milan in August, Turin and Bergamo in November, Pesaro and Mantua in March 2018, Reggio Emilia in May and Bologna in June.
On 9 November 2017 Mobike officially launched in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The ceremony was attended by Chantal Blaak, the 2017 world champion cycling women's road race. Mobike extended its service in the Netherlands in June 2018 with the launch of Mobike in Delft. In March 2019, Mobike launched in The Hague.
In Germany, Mobike launched its operations on 21 November 2017 by deploying 700 bicycles in Berlin, making it the 200th city worldwide with Mobike's bicycle sharing operations. Mobike quickly expanded in Germany by launching in Düsseldorf in May 2018, followed by Cologne in July 2018 and Hanover in September 2018. On 1 August 2020 the German-based Mobike GmbH filed for insolvency.
In France, the service was launched in Paris on 24 January 2018. In December 2018, Mobike and Transdev announced an exclusive partnership aiming at proposing Mobike to other French municipalities as complementary offer to public transport networks managed by Transdev.
In Spain, began its first operations in Madrid on 18 June 2018. Spain was Mobike's 19th country of operation, and was in support of the city's urban mobility strategy, calling for increased use of low carbon transportation. In September 2018, Mobike entered the l'Hospitalet de Llobregat thanks to an agreement with the city council. L'Hospitalet is a neighboring city to Barcelona, is Europe's second most densely populated city. On 26 September 2018, Mobike launched in Zaragoza, becoming the company's third city in Spain. In February 2019, Mobike was awarded permission to launch electronic scooters in Madrid.
In Albania, this bike-sharing system was launched in Tirana on 8 June 2018, but in the beginning of 2020 the service resulted unavailable.
In February 2018, Mobike launched its operations in Mexico City and Santiago, Chile.
issue in which commuters face the problem of being stuck a bit too far from their destination to walk, but too close to justify the cost or delay of finding a taxi. Similar to Call a Bike in Germany, every Mobike bicycle comes with an internet-controlled electronic wheel lock that automatically unlocks but requires manual locking after use.
Mobike bicycles are powered by a small generator installed on the rear wheel hub to power the lock, or by a PV panel in some bike models. The patented disc brake is said to withstand over 10,000 kilometres of riding without failure.
Mobike has partnered with Qualcomm (using their IoT chip MDM9206) and Gemalto Gemalto's website has moved to Thales Thales Group. Retrieved 5 December 2022 for the use of NB-IoT technologies to provide connection for the bikes.
Mobike bicycles come in two versions, both of which requires a scan of a unique QR code to unlock:
Renters scan the QR-code, which is displayed at the base of the handle as well as on the smart lock.
The livery is black for the seat, handlebars and the lock, orange for the wheel and metallic silver for the body.
Some users have complained about the Classic Mobike's weight and the lack of a bicycle basket (defended by Mobike as to "prevent spam advertising"), and difficulty in keeping balance on their first attempts, which kickstarted the development of Mobike's second iteration, the Mobike Lite.
The Mobike Lite comes with a net-like metal basket and has a solar panel that powers the QR lock and GPS tracker. The wheels were coloured orange.
Newer models of the "Mobike Classic" and "Mobike Lite" have adjustable seats. The Lite weighs .
The colour scheme of the second generation Mobike Lite is changed to orange for the inner rim, and reverts to black for the tyre.
To use a bicycle, the user unlocks the bike using the mobile app. The app records the distance and duration of the trip and the energy the user spent using the bike. At the end of the rental the cost is deducted from the user's account.
The company previously required deposit in order to use the service in China, however the company ended the practice in July 2018. Users are free to withdraw their deposit from the service at any time as long as they do not have a negative account balance.
In some global markets such as the UK, there has been much reported vandalism of Mobikes.
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