Mobike launches scheme in London Borough

China's Mobike officially launched its smart cycling scheme in London's Ealing Borough on Tuesday.

The Chinese firm is the fourth foreign company to introduce smart shared bikes in the British city. Residents there will now be able to download the application and ride the bike.

"To use the scheme you need to download the app and register, and you got it on an ISO or Android. And once you have downloaded it, you just scan the QR code on the bike and the bike lock opens and away you go. It's a 29 pound deposit and that's fully refundable, so you top up your card using a credit card or debit card, and then you top up your account like 5 pounds, 50 pence for half an hour," said Steve Pyer, head of Mobike in UK.

Mobike is delivering an initial 750 bikes to Ealing Central and Acton, with that number expected to increase to meet growing demands for the service. Being the second city in England that embraces shared bikes, London has a reason to get on board.

There are 33 different boroughs in London. Getting permissions from each borough to introduce the bike is another big challenge. As Ealing Borough has no Santander bikes and will cost the council a lot of money to build the docking station, Mobike if a good option for the area, as it does not cost the council anything.

The bikes can be used only in the Ealing borough. Now there are four kinds of foreign shared bikes in London including Singapore's oBike, Ireland's Urbo bike,Chinese Ofo bike and Mobike, all of which could only be used in certain area of London with local council's permission.