亞洲共享單車折戟歐洲市場

The notice called it “mass destruction”. After a spate of thefts and vandalism decimated its fleet of bicycles, Hong Kong-based start-up GoBee said last week it would pull out of French cities just days after quitting Italy.

公告中的說法是“大規(guī)模損毀”。香港初創(chuàng)企業(yè)GoBee在其共享單車遭到大規(guī)模盜竊和破壞之后，于上月底表示將退出法國各城市，而就在不久前，該公司剛剛宣布退出意大利市場。

But the company’s business update read like an indictment of Europeans: “In four months, 60 per cent of our fleet was destroyed, stolen or privatised, making the whole European project no longer sustainable.”

但它的公告讀起來就像是對歐洲人的控訴：“4個月內(nèi)，我們的自行車有60%遭到毀壞、盜竊或被據(jù)為己有，這讓整個歐洲項目無法維系下去。”

Europe is known as a centre of cycling — home to the Tour de France and the historic birthplace of the bicycle. According to the European Commission, 8 per cent of its population use bikes more than other transport every day and Asia’s largest bike sharing start-ups including Mobike, ofo, oBike and GoBee, have all trained their sights on its cities in search of growth outside their crowded home markets.

歐洲被譽為騎行中心——它每年舉辦環(huán)法自行車賽(Tour de France)，也是自行車的歷史發(fā)源地。歐盟委員會(European Commission)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，有8%的人口每天使用最多的出行方式是騎自行車，包括摩拜(Mobike)、ofo、oBike和GoBee在內(nèi)的亞洲大型共享單車初創(chuàng)企業(yè)都將目光瞄準了歐洲城市，尋求在瀕臨飽和的國內(nèi)市場之外的地方實現(xiàn)增長。

Flush with venture capital funding — Ofo has raised at least $1bn — the companies have rolled out in cities including London, Paris, Brussels, Manchester, Munich, Zurich and Madrid. But the launches have been plagued with problems: from logistics and regulation to vandalism, theft — and mass destruction.

這些獲得了大量風險投資資金(ofo籌集了至少10億美元)的公司在倫敦、巴黎、布魯塞爾、曼徹斯特、慕尼黑、蘇黎世和馬德里等城市推出了共享單車。但這些投放遭遇了從物流、監(jiān)管到破壞、盜竊以及大規(guī)模損毀等問題。

“Vandalism is one of the main issues operators have,” says Niccolo Panozzo, development officer at the European Cyclists’ Federation. “While all bike-share systems face theft and vandalism, the ease of access to their bikes made it even worse for free-floating services.

歐洲自行車聯(lián)盟(European Cyclists’ Federation)的業(yè)務拓展官尼科洛•帕諾佐(Niccolo Panozzo)表示：“破壞是運營商面臨的主要問題之一，盡管所有的共享單車服務都面臨著盜竊和破壞行為，但無樁共享服務的自行車容易覓得，使得這種情況更為嚴重。”

“There is for sure a cultural component,” he adds. “It is something widespread, yes, but in Europe we have seen a lot of this.”

他補充說：“肯定存在文化因素。沒錯，這種情況哪兒都有，但是在歐洲，我們看到了很多這樣的事情。”

Hong Kong-based GoBee was one of the first Asian companies to try to crack the French market. Its distinctive green bikes, which could be parked anywhere after use, became a common sight on pavements in Paris.

總部位于香港的GoBee是首批試圖打入法國市場的亞洲企業(yè)之一。該公司獨特的綠色自行車在巴黎人行道上隨處可見——用戶用完后可停在任何地方。

However, within a few months of launching, more than 1,000 bikes had been stolen, almost 3,400 damaged across the country and nearly 300 complaints filed with the police. Many of the bikes were simply parked at people’s homes — or “privatised,” in the company’s words.

然而，在投放市場后的幾個月內(nèi)，法國全境就有1000多輛GoBee自行車被盜，近3400輛遭到損毀，警方接到相關報警近300起。許多自行車被人停放在自己家中——或者用該公司的話來說是“被據(jù)為己有”。

Although some suggested the fate of GoBee underlined a problem with civil society in France — and in particular with its marginalised youth in the suburbs — the company has also exited Italy and Belgium this year. “We were ready for some initial vandalism,” the company said after leaving Italy. “But unfortunately, during the past weeks, the vandalism and attacks towards our fleet have reached limits we can no longer overcome.”

雖然一些人認為GoBee的命運突顯出法國民間社會——尤其是郊區(qū)被邊緣化的法國年輕人——的一個問題，但該公司今年還退出了意大利和比利時市場。該公司在退出意大利后表示：“我們對一些最初的破壞行為有心理準備。但遺憾的是，在過去數(shù)周里，我們的自行車所遭到的破壞和襲擊超出了我們能夠承受的限度。”

The history of bike vandalism is as long as the history of shared bikes. More than 50 years ago, Amsterdam’s Witte Fietsen — or White Bikes service — closed in a matter of days after people either stole the free, unlocked bikes or threw them into canals and rivers. In the decades since, cities and companies have launched restricted versions of this model where riders leave shared bikes in specific places using docking stations.

自共享單車誕生以來，破壞行為就一直不斷。50多年前，阿姆斯特丹的白色單車(Witte Fietsen)服務推出沒幾天就關閉了，因為人們要么偷走這些免費的、未上鎖的自行車，要么將它們?nèi)舆M運河和河流里。在此后的幾十年里，許多城市和公司推出了有樁版共享單車服務，用戶須將自行車停在特定的停放點。

Mobike’s biggest vandals are in Manchester, where bikes have often ended up in bins and in the canal, according to two employees with knowledge of the situation.

據(jù)兩位知情員工透露，破壞摩拜單車最嚴重的地方是曼徹斯特，自行車在那里常常被扔進垃圾箱和運河里。

Docked biking schemes have faced problems too. Santander, which sponsors London’s public bike hire service, was forced temporarily to close a number of docking stations in Milton Keynes after more than half its bikes were damaged or stolen.

有樁共享單車服務也面臨問題。資助倫敦公共自行車租賃服務的桑坦德銀行(Santander)在它一半以上的自行車遭損毀或盜竊后，曾被迫暫時關閉了米爾頓凱恩斯的多個停放點。

Bike-sharing companies employ armies of workers to monitor their bikes, which Mr Panozzo estimates can account for up to 30 per cent of costs. These stewards carry bikes to places of high demand, make minor repairs and report incidents of vandalism. “In every single city we have an operations team, we have employees and logistics suppliers to move around the bikes,” says Chris Martin, head of international expansion at Mobike.

共享單車公司雇用大量工人來監(jiān)控他們的自行車，帕諾佐估計這可能占到成本的30%。這些工人們將自行車運送到需求量大的地方，簡單維修并報告破壞行為。摩拜國際拓展主管克里斯•馬丁(Chris Martin)表示：“在每一個城市，我們都有一個運營團隊，我們有負責搬運這些自行車的員工和物流供應商。”

Joseph Seal-Driver, general manager for the UK and Ireland at ofo, says the company has “an active team of marshals who are employed by ofo on the London living wage”.

ofo英國和愛爾蘭總經(jīng)理約瑟夫•西爾-德賴弗(Joseph Seal-Driver)表示，該公司有“一支忙碌的管理員團隊，這些管理員是ofo雇的，領倫敦最低生活工資”。

The bike-sharing start-ups have discovered certain cities are easier to negotiate than others. According to Mr Martin, Milan and Florence have been particularly successful for Mobike, although he declined to outline financial details. And despite the challenges in Manchester, the company has not withdrawn from the city but instead chosen to restrict bikes to the city centre. “The economics and needs of cities are so varied right now,” he said.

共享單車初創(chuàng)企業(yè)發(fā)現(xiàn)某些城市更容易搞定。馬丁說，摩拜在米蘭和佛羅倫薩特別成功，盡管他拒絕透露財務細節(jié)。盡管在曼徹斯特面臨種種挑戰(zhàn)，但摩拜并未退出該市，而是選擇將運營區(qū)域限制在市中心。他說：“現(xiàn)在各個城市的盈虧和需求狀況差異很大。”

GoBee’s exit from France will raise concerns for others attempting to launch in Paris. Last month Mobike started a trial in the city, hot on the heels of ofo in December. The city’s own bike-sharing system, Velib, has suffered after a roll-out of new bikes and docking stations was delayed under a new operator.

GoBee退出法國將讓其他試圖進軍巴黎市場的企業(yè)產(chǎn)生顧慮。今年1月，摩拜在巴黎開始試運營，緊隨ofo的腳步，后者在去年12月份進入巴黎。巴黎自己的共享單車服務Velib眼下經(jīng)營遇到困難，此前，該服務的新運營商未按時鋪設新一批自行車和停放站。

China’s bike-riding sector, which spawned the industry’s global leaders Mobike and ofo, also struggles with vandalism. Wukong Bicycle became one of China’s first bike-sharing start-ups to fold after it announced 90 per cent, or almost 1,100, of its bicycles had been stolen. Those bikes had only been out on the streets of Chongqing, a city in western China, for half a year. Images of “bike graveyards” where local governments deposit unwanted bikes haunt the Chinese start-ups.

中國的共享單車行業(yè)也受到破壞行為的影響——中國產(chǎn)生了該行業(yè)的全球領導者摩拜和ofo。悟空單車(Wukong Bicycle)在宣布其90%的自行車(近1100輛)被盜之后，成為中國首批退出市場的共享單車初創(chuàng)企業(yè)之一。那些自行車只在中國西部的重慶市的街道上存活了半年。地方政府收繳的被棄自行車形成的“自行車墳墓”，成為困擾中國共享單車初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的噩夢景象。

The companies have turned to technological solutions to limit bad behaviour. All of Mobike’s fleet, and most of ofo’s fleet, is GPS-enabled and communicates with the company’s servers. If bikes are left unlocked or parked in the wrong places, the companies will dock points from that user.

這些公司已經(jīng)開始使用技術來限制不文明行為。摩拜的所有自行車和ofo的大部分自行車都有GPS功能，并與公司的服務器通信。如果自行車用完后沒有上鎖或者被停放在不該停的地方，公司將扣減該用戶的信用分。

Ofo, which is backed by Alibaba, whose payments affiliate Ant Financial provides credit scoring through its Sesame Credit big data platform, has also turned to more comprehensive credit-scoring measures. It requires its worst-scoring offenders to pay a steeper deposit. But according to Mr Panozzo, all these efforts come at a cost.

得到阿里巴巴(Alibaba)投資的ofo也運用了更全面的信用評分措施——阿里巴巴旗下的支付關聯(lián)公司螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)通過其芝麻信用大數(shù)據(jù)平臺提供信用評分。它要求分值最低的不文明用戶支付更多押金。但據(jù)帕諾佐說，所有這些努力都是有代價的。

“The commercial sustainability of these systems is not so easy to figure out,” he said.

他說：“這些服務的商業(yè)可持續(xù)性讓人不太容易看懂。”