共享单车企业倒闭，押金该何去何从？

Although Scarlet Sun, a Beijing white-collar worker, was already a user of China’s top two bike-sharing firms Ofo and Mobike, she still tried a third provider, Bluegogo, by paying a deposit of 199 yuan.

斯嘉丽·孙是北京的一名白领，尽管她已经是中国两大共享单车公司Ofo小黄车和摩拜单车的用户，她还是试用了第三家小蓝单车的服务，交付了199元的押金。

It was because she badly needed a ride and Bluegogo was the only choice available at that moment. But when she applied to get the deposit back later, there was no response, reported the South China Morning Post.

因为当时她急需用车，而现场只有小蓝单车。但据《南华早报》报道，当她后来申请退还押金时，却没有收到任何回复。

Sun’s experience was shared by many other users of Bluegogo, China’s third-largest dockless bike-sharing startup, as it stopped operation in November.

这家中国第三大无桩共享单车初创企业自从11月停止运营以来，不少小蓝单车的用户和孙女士一样遭遇了同样的状况。

Founded late last year, Bluegogo operated in a number of cities, such as Beijing, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. At its peak, it claimed about 700,000 bikes and 20 million users, reported Fortune.

成立于去年年末的小蓝单车曾在北京、深圳、成都等一系列城市投入运营。据《财富》杂志报道，该公司称其巅峰时期拥有70万辆自行车以及两千万用户。

This was the latest example of Chinese bike-sharing companies closing down. The industry witnessed its first casualty in June, when Wukong Bike went out of business after just six months of operation. This was followed by several other bike-sharing companies such as 3vBike, Ding Ding and CoolQi.

这是最新倒闭的一家中国共享单车企业。今年6月，共享单车行业首次出现动荡：当时，仅运营6个月的悟空单车宣布停业。不久后，3Vbike、町町单车、酷骑单车等其他几家共享单车企业也宣布停止运营。

A major factor that caused many bike-sharing companies to close down, including Bluegogo, was that they had run out of financial support, reported the South China Morning Post.

据《南华早报》报道，导致包含小蓝单车在内的一众共享单车企业倒闭的一大原因，在于这些企业的资金链断裂。

These recent events have caused concern about the safety of deposits. According to a report published by the China Internet Network Information Center in August, users may have paid a total of up to 10 billion yuan in deposits for using shared bikes.

近期发生的这些事件引发了公众对于押金安全的关注。据中国互联网络信息中心八月份发布的一项报告显示，共享单车用户交付的押金总额或已达100亿人民币。

In response to the case, Wei Xi, a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property, suggested that users contact the hotline and official WeChat account of the company to apply for a refund of the deposit. If it doesn’t work, they can complain to the local authority where the company was registered.

针对这一事件，知识产权律师韦喜建议用户联系该企业的热线电话或者官方微信公众号，申请退还押金。如果押金难退，用户可以向公司注册地的工商管理部门投诉。

“Users should choose the bike-sharing companies that have a good reputation and huge financial support,” Wei told Tencent news.

“我们在选择使用共享单车时，一定要选择资金雄厚，背景良好的共享单车公司。”韦喜在接受腾讯新闻采访时表示。

Meanwhile, users don’t always have to pay a deposit to use shared bikes. For example, users with a sesame credit score of 650 and above don’t have to pay Ofo’s deposit of 199 yuan.

同时，用户也并非总是需要支付共享单车的押金。比如，芝麻信用值达到650分的用户就可以免交Ofo小黄车199元的押金。

Currently, the National Internet Finance Association of China is working with other agencies to jointly launch a personal credit information platform, which could in return boost the completion of a unified social credit system.

中国互联网金融协会目前正与其他机构合作，共同设立个人信用信息平台。该平台能够进一步推进社会信用体系建设。

“If the system can be completed, the time of free deposit will come, bring benefits for both the users and companies,” commented People’s Daily.

“如果统一的社会信用体系能够顺利推行，相信‘零押金’时代不久就能到来，买卖双方都能充分享受信用带来的红利，”《人民日报》评论道。