Shared bikes: the cheapest hour in a Chinese city

Walk out of any metro station in a Chinese city and there's a row of them — yellow, blue, green, orange, hundreds deep at the big interchanges. They're dockless app bikes, they're the reason locals think nothing of a twenty-minute ride across a district, and once you've used one you'll re-plan your days around them.

How you get on one

• Open Alipay or WeChat and use Scan. No separate app needed, no deposit, no registration — the super-app is your membership card.
• Point it at the code on the bike — handlebars, rear wheel or the lock itself — and the lock clicks open.
• Ride, park, close the lock manually. The ride ends when the lock shuts, not when you walk away, and the charge lands in the app you used.

Dedicated apps exist too (Hellobike, Meituan, Qingju) if you're staying a while and want a pass, but for a two-week trip the Alipay scan is all the setup there is. It's also one more reason the payment apps go on your phone before you fly.

What it costs

Pricing is per half hour and varies by operator and city — commonly around ¥1.5 for the first thirty minutes, sometimes more for the electric-assist ones. That is roughly the price of a bus fare for a ride that takes you door to door. Exact figures are shown in the app before you unlock, so check there rather than trusting any number on a website, including this one.

The two rules that matter

• Park in the designated bays. Cities run virtual parking zones — painted bays on the pavement, marked areas in the app's map. Parking outside one can trigger a warning or a small dispatch fee, and repeated misuse can affect your account. Look for the white bays near metro entrances and crossroads; that's where everyone else leaves them.
• Ride like the road expects. Bike lanes are common and usually separated, scooters share them, and traffic turns across them. Ride with the flow, slow at junctions, and use the bell — it's a courtesy here, not an apology.

Where they change the day

The gap between two metro stops is where a lot of the good stuff sits: the lane with the noodle shop, the park gate, the stretch of river nobody photographs. On foot that gap is twenty hot minutes; on a bike it's five. Evening rides along the Pearl River in Guangzhou, or the hutong grid in an old district, are genuinely some of the best hours of a trip — flat ground, dedicated lanes, and the city at the temperature it's pleasant in.

Two cautions. Peak-hour city-centre traffic is not the place to learn — start on a riverside or a quiet district. And some scenic areas, parks and pedestrian streets prohibit bikes inside; you'll leave it at the gate and walk in, which is fine.