The number of shared bike rides in Beijing reached 16.22 million in March, accounting for 63.2 percent of the number last March, according to information released at a news conference held on Wednesday in Beijing.

Meanwhile, the number of trips taken on publicly-funded bikes hit 2.64 million, reaching the same level of last March, said Cong Jun, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, at the press conference.

Shared and public bikes provide a safe way to travel amid the epidemic because they pose a low risk of getting cross-infected with the virus, said Cong.

Bikes in use are sterilized every day, and those at busy places are sterilized several times a day, he said, adding that the number of daily sterilization on shared and public bikes reached 359,000 times.