Various bicycles are parked at a subway entrance in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, April 4, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

BEIJING - Users of bike-sharing service in China should register in real name, the industry watchdog said Thursday.

Bike-sharing providers are banned from offering service to children under the age of 12, and are not encouraged to offer service of electric bikes, according to the guidelines released by the Ministry of Transport and nine other government departments.

There were 18.9 million users of shared bikes in China in 2016. The number is expected to hit 50 million by the end of this year.

Booming bike-sharing has led to urban management challenges such as congested city sidewalks.