Shared bikes, more a problem than a solution?

PHOTOGRAPHER WU GUOYONG has documented vast bicycle graveyards in over 20 Chinese cities. His drone shots show fields covered with shared bikes abandoned by users and retrieved by urban patrol officers. China Youth Daily comments:

Over the past two years, more than 20 million shared bicycles have been put on the roads in Chinese cities. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of them are now to be found in such cemeteries.

The shared bicycles were enthusiastically embraced by users when first introduced, as they were seen as a convenient and environmentally friendly transport solution, which prompted a flurry of companies, stoked by huge amounts of investment, to offer such bikes hoping to cash in on the trend.