The “smart” bikes, whose wheels can be locked anywhere and unlocked using a smartphone app, will arrive in the west London borough of Ealing in September, Mobike announced on Monday.
摩拜单车(Mobike)周一宣布,可在任何地方锁定车轮、并使用智能手机app解锁的 “智能”自行车,将于9月在伦敦西部的伊林区(Ealing)启用。
The company plans to start with 750 bicycles and increase that number to meet demand.
该公司计划从750辆自行车起步,逐渐增加数量以满足需求。
“We’re committed to working closely with Ealing and other boroughs to make Mobike, and bike-sharing as a whole, a successful experience for Londoners,” said Steve Pyer, UK general manager for Mobike.
“我们致力于同伊林区以及伦敦其他区密切合作,使摩拜单车——以及自行车共享服务——成为伦敦市民的一种成功体验,”摩拜单车英国总经理史蒂夫?皮埃尔(Steve Pyer)表示。
Mobike is not the only Asian bike-sharing company with its eye on London’s keen cyclists. Earlier this month, Singapore-based start-up oBike rolled out 400 dockless cycles in east London.
摩拜单车并不是唯一一家瞄准伦敦骑行爱好者的亚洲自行车共享公司。本月早些时候,总部位于新加坡的初创企业oBike在伦敦东部推出400辆无桩共享自行车。
The companies are hoping to attract cyclists away from the city’s public hire scheme, which has proven popular since its launch seven years ago. Santander Cycles — more commonly known as “Boris bikes” after the mayor of London at the time — are more expensive and require riders to find empty docking stations when they are finished.
这些公司希望从伦敦市的公共自行车租用系统(自7年前推出以来深受欢迎)吸引骑车者。桑坦德自行车(Santander Cycles)——更常用的名称是以时任伦敦市长鲍里斯?约翰逊(Boris Johnson)命名的“鲍里斯自行车”——相对收费更高,并要求骑车者在用完后找到空的停车点。
To use Mobike bicycles, a QR code printed on the bike is scanned using a smartphone app. The app then sends a signal to the bike via Bluetooth, and to the Mobike servers via the internet, which unlocks the bike and registers the start of the user’s journey.
要使用摩拜的自行车,用户需要使用一款智能手机app扫描自行车上打印的二维码。随后该app通过蓝牙向自行车发送信号,并通过互联网向摩拜单车服务器发送信号,从而解锁自行车,并登记用户旅程的开始。
At the end of the ride, the bike is manually locked by closing the rear wheel lock, which sends a signal to the Mobike servers saying that the journey has ended.
骑行结束后,用户关闭后轮锁,即可手动锁定自行车;同时后轮锁向摩拜单车服务器发送信号,告知旅程已结束。
Cycling has become an increasingly common mode of transport in London, where successive local governments have invested heavily in cycle lanes and infrastructure. In 2015, official data show a 10.3 per cent increase in cycle journeys to 670,000 in the city.
在伦敦,自行车已成为越来越普遍的交通工具,历届地方政府大力投资修建自行车道及相关基础设施。官方数据显示,2015年伦敦市的骑行旅程数量增加10.3%,达到67万次。
Mobike has been at the forefront of a bike-sharing craze that has taken Chinese cities by storm, placing more than 3.65m bikes and providing more than 20m daily rides as of April, according to the company.
据摩拜单车介绍,该公司置身于一场席卷中国各城市的共享单车热潮的领先位置,截至4月份总共投放逾365万辆自行车,每日提供2000余万次旅程。
It has raised more than $1bn to date from international investors, including Singapore’s Temasek, China’s Tencent and US-based Warburg Pincus.
该公司迄今已从国际投资者筹集逾10亿美元,其中包括新加坡淡马锡(Temasek)、中国腾讯(Tencent),以及美国的华平(Warburg Pincus)。
Mobike first entered the UK in June via the city of Manchester, where they are available to rent for 50p for 30 minutes. It has ambitions to expand further outside China, and has already launched in Singapore and Italy.
摩拜单车于6月份通过曼彻斯特市首次进入英国;在曼彻斯特市,仅需50便士即可租用一辆摩拜自行车30分钟。该公司的雄心是在中国以外进一步扩张,迄今已在新加坡和意大利推出服务。
Mobike’s distinctive orange-rimmed bikes are GPS-tracked and can be located using the smartphone app, which also sends the company data from its users’ rides.
摩拜单车独特的橙色车轮自行车用GPS跟踪,可使用智能手机app定位,这款应用还向该公司发送用户骑行数据。
Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for transport, environment and leisure at Ealing Council, said: “We want more people to cycle in Ealing?.?.?.[Mobike’s launch] is another way of helping people who want to give it a go, but are put off by the upfront expense of buying a bike or by lack of storage.”
伊林区地方议会议员、分管运输、环境和康乐事务的内阁成员巴萨姆?马哈福兹(Bassam Mahfouz)表示:“我们希望伊林区有更多市民骑车出行……(摩拜单车的推出)提供了又一种方式,帮助那些想要尝试、但被购买自行车的一次性费用或缺乏停车空间打消念头的人们。”
However, like their private equivalents, shared bicycles have been beset by theft and vandalism in China as well as in Manchester, where local media reported Mobikes being stolen and turned into private-use bikes.
然而,像私人自行车一样,共享自行车在中国以及曼彻斯特都受到盗窃和破坏行为的困扰;据曼彻斯特媒体报道,当地有一些摩拜自行车被盗,然后被改头换面,变成私人自行车。
Some have also complained that undocked bikes are a nuisance. When oBike bicycles turned up in the west London borough of Hammersmith & Fulham this year, the council warned the group that it was “a bit concerned about the places you’ve left many of your bikes”.
还有一些人抱怨称,无桩自行车简直是一种滋扰。当oBike自行车今年出现在伦敦西部的汉默史密斯-富勒姆区(Hammersmith & Fulham)后,当地的地方议会警告该集团,“有点担心你们的许多自行车停放的地方”。
Since the bikes are unlocked by scanning a QR code printed on them, scratching off the code means the next would-be rider can no longer unlock the bicycle. Vandals have also tried to disable the GPS trackers on the bikes.
由于共享自行车是通过扫描打印在其上的二维码来解锁的,因此擦掉这个代码就意味着下一个潜在骑车者无法再解锁自行车。破坏者还试图禁用自行车上的GPS追踪器。