I’ve watched the ebbing fortunes of the ‘bike share unicorns’ - notably ofo and Mobike - with concern over the past year. Their cheery growth, rapidly scattering thousands of orange and yellow bikes across UK cities seemed like a magic solution to get more people cycling without costing cities a fortune. But their equally rapid retraction holds lessons for all sorts of new mobility. 

My attention was drawn to an interesting piece of bike industry news from China today.

Chinese bike manufacturers are reporting significant drops in turnover as a result of bike share companies shrinking. Like, really significant – ofo supplier, the Shanghai Phoenix Enterprise (Group) Co Ltd, experienced a 55% drop in turnover and net income in the first six months of this year.