The Bicycle Kingdom Goes Global

China’s bike sharing companies are changing the world.

Millions of shareable bikes are flooding streets in cities across China, but thousands end up in giant scrapheaps, broken and discarded.

Over the last year or so, however, something remarkable has happened: the self-styled “Bicycle Kingdom” has risen from the scrapheap. China has been infected by a bike-sharing fever where brightly colored common-usage bikes are located and rented via smartphone apps.

It’s a simple idea that is spreading across hundreds of cities around the world, including the U.S., where those same Chinese companies are helping to solve the “last mile” problem: getting people between public transport hubs and home.

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