7 Years of J-Bike, 'Jiku' Visiting Local Residents

Nationwide Personal Mobility Device JiBike Ranks No. 1

Personal mobility sharing service Jibike announced on the 23rd that, on the occasion of its 7th anniversary, it conducted a survey on the nationwide distribution status of personal mobility devices (PM) and confirmed that Jibike operates the largest number of devices. In particular, among the 17 metropolitan local governments, Jibike (Jiku) had the highest distribution rate in 13 regions, excluding Seoul, Busan, Daegu, and Gyeongnam.

This survey was conducted by directly counting the active devices exposed on the applications of nine major companies providing PM sharing services, including Jibike. As a result, Jibike operated about 100,000 PMs nationwide, combining electric bicycles and electric kickboards. The total number of PMs operated by all nine companies was about 300,000 nationwide, with Jibike accounting for one-third of the total.

In particular, when looking at the 17 metropolitan local governments nationwide, Company A operated the most devices in Seoul, Busan, and Gyeongnam, and Company B operated the most in Daegu, but in all other regions, Jibike’s devices were found to be the most widely operated. Additionally, Jibike was the only company operating PM services in all 17 metropolitan local governments.

The survey also identified that Jibike plays an important role in local communities facing public transportation issues. The surveyed companies tended to operate mainly in the metropolitan area, where the population is concentrated and the market is large, deploying 21% of PMs in Seoul and 56% in the metropolitan area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon). However, Jibike’s PMs were relatively less deployed, with 10% in Seoul and 46% in the metropolitan area. This is because there were more customers in areas with long public transportation intervals who needed PMs.

Representative examples include Wonju City in Gangwon Province and Pyeongtaek City in Gyeonggi Province. The only public transportation in Wonju City is city buses, with intervals ranging from 25 to 70 minutes. Jibike operates 1,600 PMs only in Wonju City. In Pyeongtaek City, Jibike operates more than 2,300 PMs, and sales surge during commuting hours from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., serving as a practical public transportation means for employees of Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Campus and its partner companies.

Yoon Jong-su, CEO of Jibike, said, “Our goal over the past seven years since our founding has been consistent: to help people overcome the limitations of walking through safe and reliable means of transportation.” He added, “We will continue to create services that directly help various customers, including early morning workers during times when public transportation is unavailable, commuters suffering from long intervals between services, and residents in areas where bus routes have been reduced.”