China's ofo takes bike-sharing craze to Thailand

Thailand is the fifth overseas market for ofo, known for

its signature yellow bikes, following Singapore, the United States,

Britain and Kazakhstan.

A total of 6,000 bikes will

be put into use in the capital city of Bangkok from August 1, after a

successful month-long trial run was earlier completed at a local

university.

A ride on an ofo bike will costs 5 baht (US 0.15) per 30 minutes, with a deposit of 99 baht(US 2.97).

The bikes will be offered for free for the first three months.

"Thailand

has a population of nearly 70 million and traffic jams have become a

big headache in cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai," said Cao Xiao, head

of ofo's Asian-Pacific department. "By offering Thailand users a

customized service, we hope the transport system in major Thailand

cities can be improved with our shared bikes in the near future."

ofo

said it had partnered with electronic payment platform Adyen to allow

overseas users access to their services. The company said it planned to

enter 20 countries by the end of 2017.

After huge

success in the domestic market, Chinese bike-sharing companies are

accelerating their steps into the global market. Earlier this month,

Mobike announced entrance into Italy, its fourth overseas market

following Singapore, Britain and Japan.