Bicycle provider ofo rolls out 500 units in Cambridge as it takes aim at Europe

Chinese bicycle rental startup ofo - pronounced "oh-ef-oh" - is seeking to overtake competitors such as Mobike by venturing overseas.

Ofo has chosen Cambridge as its entry point into Europe. From now on, at least 500 of the company's yellow and black bikes, ubiquitous in China's cities, will dot the streets of the university town.

Located in the flat Fenlands, Cambridge is commonly referred to as the United Kingdom's unofficial "cycle city".

"We chose Cambridge because it's so bike-friendly," says Angela Cai, head of communications at ofo. "Research shows that one-third of the city's population ride bicycles to go to university or work. It's the highest rate in the UK, so there's a high demand."

Ofo is Beijing Bikelock Technology's mobile app-supported bike-sharing scheme, partly funded by Lei Jun, who founded smartphone company Xiaomi, and Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing service.

It started off in 2014 on college campuses. Now, ofo operates across 22 cities and is China's second-largest bike-sharing service, valued at $500 million (459 million euros; 397 million), with 5 million registered users.

The bike-sharing market in China has become increasingly crowded, with more than a dozen services vying for the country's 4.32 million monthly active users. Mobike, partly owned by Tencent Holdings, dominated in 2016 with 72.5 percent of the market share.

Late last year, ofo CEO Dai Wei announced plans to ship 20,000 bicycles abroad, choosing three foreign destinations for the the company's global expansion: Cambridge, Singapore and Stanford, California.

"We hope that the UK will serve as a gateway to our business in Europe, and Singapore for our business in Southeast Asia," Dai says.

Bike-sharing schemes are not new to the UK. Thousands of Londoners get around daily on Santander Cycles, commonly referred to as "Boris bikes" because former London mayor and current UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson launched the scheme.

Cambridge had a bike-sharing program in the early 1990s that was quickly abandoned, as most of the 300 bicycles were stolen within a year.

Ofo differs from most of Europe's public bike-sharing programs in several ways. The service does not use docking stations - users are free to pick up bikes wherever they find them and leave them wherever they please.

Riders use the ofo app - now available in English - to scan a quick-response (QR) code or enter a bike registration number to gain access to a bike lock combination code. Users can search for nearby bikes on the app, and at night a service will collect bikes and redistribute them to high-use areas.

Ofo rides also come cheap - one trip will cost just 50 pence ($0.63; 0.58 euros; 0.50) in the UK and $1 in the US. By comparison, Santander Cycles start at 2 pounds ($2.50).

After the coming trial phase in Cambridge, ofo will decide if it should expand its fleet beyond 500 bicycles.

"We have to make sure that we consider all aspects, including testing the rides and getting feedback from users, before we roll in more bikes," Cai says.

Around 40 percent of adults cycle at least three times a week in Cambridge, the highest rate of any British region and more than double that of the Isles of Scilly, which occupies second place with 19 percent, according to Cycle UK.

In discussions, Ofo gained the support of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership or GCGP and the Cambridgeshire County Council.

"The city of Cambridge was obviously attractive to ofo as the UK's cycling capital. And, obviously, any increase in cycling has environmental benefits and helps reduce traffic congestion in the city center," says Steven Wilson, head of innovation at GCGP.

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