Mobike rolled out 200 of its silver and orange bicycles in Islington, three weeks after competitor Ofo dropped off 100 of its yellow cycles on the streets of the same North London borough.
The two companies had launched in London boroughs previously-Ofo in Hackney and the City of London and Mobike in Ealing-though Islington is the first place in the capital where the companies have crossed paths.
"We welcome competition in Islington, just as we did in Oxford when Mobike launched there several months after us," said Joseph Seal-Driver, general manager for Ofo in the UK. "It's healthy and ultimately benefits the public."
Elsewhere outside the capital of London, Mobike operates in Newcastle and Manchester and Ofo hires out bikes in Cambridge and Norwich.
Ofo announced on Monday it will work with the London Cycling Campaign, a cycling charity in the capital with 12,000 members. The charity will advise Ofo as it rolls out the 150,000 bikes it plans to make available in the coming years.
Speaking during a visit to London in early November, Ofo co-founder Zhang Yanqi said the fleet of bikes will include "e-bikes", or motorized bikes powered by electric batteries.
The company plans to bring some of them to London next year.
Zhang said he would like to see bike usage in London on a par with levels in Amsterdam.
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