The public bicycle program will be stopped in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, on November 25, 2017, Wuhanhuantou public bicycle company announced Friday.

The move is regarded as a "rational use of resources" in response to the city's boom in shared bikes.

The number of shared bicycles in urban districts has reached 700,000, which is capable of "well-meeting residents' short travel needs," read the announcement.

Launched in 2009, Wuhan's public bicycle program was aimed at solving the "last mile" problem for residents.

After being suspended due to poor management, the program was restarted by Wuhan Environment Investment and Development Co. Ltd in 2014.

By paying a 200-yuan deposit, users can enjoy free rides of up to one hour each time, but they need to return the bikes to specific parking areas.

Official data showed that as of March 2017, the program had placed about 40,000 bikes on its 2,000 operating stations all over the city, and the bikes had been used for a total of 60 million trips.

Some of the existing operating stations also provide registered users with charging services for mobile phones, electric bikes, and cars.

In its announcement, Wuhanhuantou public bicycle company said it would carry out a transformation and update to offer better services in the future.

Wuhan previously banned the deployment of more shared bikes in September, as it tries to deal with congestion and "chaos."