COLORFUL BIKES: A bicycle rental stand near Beijing's Fuchengmen Subway Station attracts passersby to have a look (WEI YAO)

Fan Minggang takes subway Line 2 to work every day. After leaving the station, he goes directly to a little rental stand and rents a bike, which he rides to another stand near his office. The rental has been part of his commute for the last eight months.

"The office is still a distance from the subway station, so it was once quite a headache for me to transfer from the train to the buses, which are very crowded during rush hours," said Fan. "Now I don't have to suffer through that any more."

He bought a 100-yuan ($15) annual card from the bicycle stands run by Bicycle Rental Co. Ltd., which started its Beijing bicycle rental business in January 2006. The company has grown from just over 10 stands to now more than 50. Besides establishing locations adjacent to every station along the subway's line 2, the company also opened many others in busy business districts and scenic spots.

"The business here goes well," said Zhang Tieliang, who runs the stand near Line 2's Fuchengmen Station. "When we started here in January 2006, few people knew what we were doing. Many people thought we were here to sell new bicycles and stopped to ask the purchase prices."

Things improved after six months. "As more and more people began to understand this service, they came to realize that it brought them many conveniences," said Zhang.

New concept, slow start

But in a city as big as Beijing, 50 rental stands are far from meeting everybody's needs. Few are as lucky as Fan to have a stand positioned strategically near their offices or homes. Although there are now eight different bicycle rental companies in Beijing, none can cover the entirety of the city.

"There aren't any stands near my home, which means I have to keep the bicycle overnight. That raises the risk of losing it," said Lin, who refused to give her full name. "If I lose the bike, I can't get back my 400-yuan ($59) deposit. To me, it is not a good deal at all."

With most bicycles normally costing up to 200 yuan ($29), the 400-yuan ($58) deposit for a rental made others say they would not consider renting at present.

Rental prices raise other concerns for potential customers. Bicycle Rental Co. Ltd.'s bikes cost 5 yuan ($0.7) per hour, 10 yuan ($1.5) for half a day, 20 yuan ($2.9) per day and 60 yuan ($8.8) per month to rent. The company stopped the 100-yuan annual card business in 2009 because of excessive wear and tear on the bicycles, said Zhang.

"The bus ticket in Beijing might be the cheapest all over China," said Lin. "It is only 0.4 yuan ($0.06) one way. That means I can spend 0.8 yuan ($0.12) roundtrip every day if I transfer to the bus from the subway. It is obviously cheaper than the bicycle rental."

Another bicycle rental company, Fortune Bicycle Rental Co., which claims to have already set up more than 200 stands around Beijing, offers cheaper rental prices to compete with bus prices. It charges 2 yuan ($0.3) per hour, 30 yuan ($4.4) per month and 120 yuan ($17.6) per year for rentals. The company puts bicycles outside newspaper kiosks that dot the city to promote its business.

Another company that targets college students, I-Bike Media Co., even introduced free rentals with no deposit at all. Customers get a special credit card from the company when renting the bicycles for the first time, and the credit goes up or down depending on whether the renter returns the bicycle on time. At the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, the service has attracted many students since the bicycles appeared on campus at the end of March.

"I've lost three bicycles already," said Zhang Xiaojun, an engineering major. "I dare not buy another bicycle, but it is time-consuming commuting between classrooms and the dormitory every day. These free rental bicycles really help a lot."

I-Bike Media has already spread to other cities including Shanghai and Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, said Li Weiwei, General Manager of the company's Beijing branch. The company's profits come only from selling advertisements on the rental bicycles.

"It has worked well so far," said Li, "We have cooperated with seven universities and are expanding the service to more than 20 universities in Beijing in 2009."