Mobike and ofo are major providers of the service, which is very popular among young urbanites

Hu Weiwei is a firm believer that bike riding can be used as an effective gauge to measure the quality of urban life.

"If a city is bike friendly, that means it has good-quality air, well-designed roads and plenty of big tall trees to make people feel safe and comfortable to travel on two-wheel vehicles," she said, adding that in a sense, a happy urban life cannot exist without bikes.