Xiamen adds QR codes to its pubic bikes

Xiamen citizens now can borrow a bike from a fixed station dock by scanning the QR code on the dock, as the city’s public bicycle system updates were finished last week, the West Strait Morning Post reports.

According to the Xiamen Public Bike Management Co., Ltd., they finished the update of 523 stations, 15,452 docks, and 7,482 bikes during the past six months.

All bicycle docks now have a QR code on them. To rent a public bike, users need to scan the QR code to follow the wechat account of “厦门市公共自行车”(Xiamen Public Bicycles) on which they register and pay a deposit of 200 yuan.

Users can apply to waive the deposit if their Egret Credit score, the city’s credit rating system, is above 680. To do this, they need to follow the wechat account of “白鹭分”(Egret Credit score) to give authorization before submitting their E-Tong card, ID card, and applicant form to offline service centers.

However, foreign users can borrow the public bikes only by using their E-Tong cards. Foreigners who want to use the public bike system can bring their passport and an E-Tong card to any local service center to begin using the service. 

The Xiamen Public Bicycle scheme is a bike sharing system run by the Xiamen Municipal Government. Users can ride for free for the first hour. If they use it for more than one hour and within four hours, they have to pay 0.5 yuan per hour. If they use it for more than four hours, the users have to pay 1 yuan per hour. The daily charge for a bike is fixed at a maximum of 15 yuan.