Coolness aside, i don't really like the fact that it's not free but i guess if it was then you would probably have loads of people riding it all day for fun, which would drive up operating costs needlessly and inconvenience the people who actually need it.
I still think 3 Yuan is a bit steep (pun intended). Maybe just a token 1 Yuan? It's public infrastructure after all and in a city that steep people may need to use it multiple times a day every day to get to and from work, shopping, etc. What do you think?