From time to time the so-called 'White Bicycle Plan' arises. Entrepreneurs and municipal councils have introduced bicycles for public use ever since the sixties. It seems to work fine in other cities like London and Copenhagen for example but it can also go very wrong, like in China where the big cities are choke-full and where bicycle scrape yards raise sky high.
I think the the bike-density in Holland is way too high to make this work properly. These yellow rim bikes are literally scattered around our city and more competition is on it's way. oBike says they know about the problems and all complaints wil be taken seriously. Yeah right.
At the moment all their bikes still look pretty neat but what happens if a bike brakes down? Are they gonna repair it in no time. No they won't. oBike, the owner of the biks on the photo, says their bikes are a solution for cities with little parking space for cars. A single parking lot can hold at least a few oBikes. But what I see is bikes lying around, consuming parking space for at least a few private bikes.
Amsterdam already banned the oBike. It's time for Rotterdam to do the same. The intensions aren't eco- or consumer friendly anyway. It's all about making money (of course) and selling user data.
In addition, riding these cheap Chinese bikes is tough enough. As if you're facing headwind all the time...
