With news of rising gas prices driving up food prices and taxi fares, this might be welcome news: Sansheng Xiang Flower Town will launch a public bike-rental program tomorrow.

The Shanghai-based Forever Bicycle Company in cooperation with the Jinjiang government is hosting a bicycle-rental program with 200 vehicles and 24 loan stations at high-traffic areas such as Hongshacun (红砂村), Dongli Juyuan (东篱菊园), Chenglong Lu (成龙路).

Bicycles are available to both residents and visitors. Those who wish to rent a bicycle must first pay a cash deposit in order to receive a bicycle-rental card.

Rental Fees
Jinjiang District residents with valid ID: RMB100 deposit; entitled to up to 2 hours free use of a bicycle per day
Non-residents: RMB300 deposit plus a non-refundable RMB20 per day

The cards utilize a point system such that in the event a bicycle is returned beyond the two-hour time limit, points will be deducted. Once a certain number of points are deducted, the card holder loses all bike-renting privileges.

The Sansheng Xiang program is one of the Forever Bicycle Company's three bicycle-rental programs in China; the other two are in Shanghai and Sichuan's Dujiangyan. Holders of bike-rental cards from any of the stations may rent bicycles from any of these three stations with the card.

If the Sansheng Xiang program is successful, an additional 200 bicycles will be added for a total of 400.

As a result of this bicycle-rental program, the four-seater bicycles that have previously been available for rent in Sansheng Xiang will be phased out of existence.

Talk of a bicycle-rental program in Chengdu has appeared in local news since January. The Dujiangyan bike-rental program kicked off in April and has proven successful, providing up to 1,500 bicycles per day to renters.

On a related note, click here to see sculptures made out of spare Forever Bicycle parts by Ai Weiwei.

Share this article