Bikeshare in China as a public service: Comparing government‐run and public‐private partnership operation models

China is now the world leader in public bikeshare systems (PBS) with more bikes and stations in use than the rest of the world combined. The rapid rise of PBS as a viable urban transport option in China has taken place since Hangzhou introduced the first system in 2008 and it has been driven by the desire to address sustainability challenges. Chinese municipal governments have heavily subsidized the development of PBS to encourage non‐motorized transport and offer a flexible, convenient, and low‐cost mobility options to the people. As a subsidized public service, PBS in China has been constructed and operated either under a government‐run (GR) model and public‐private partnership (PPP) model. This paper analyzes the effects of these two operation models on PBS performance and concludes that GR systems have been more effective than PPP systems in achieving higher bike utilization, ridership, and population served. The paper explores the reasons for these differences and finds that the financial incentive structure under the PPP model often leads to results that have conflicts of interest between private companies and the government. GR systems, on the contrary, are much more effective than PBS systems and they are under official transport agencies that are accountable to following the government's desire to make PBS function as a viable transport option instead of a profit‐making business.