Buiness Rx: weBike

Local start-up business weBike, a station-less, phone-based bike sharing system, was the featured business in the Post's Business Rx this week.

WeBike is a bike-sharing program that is stationless and uses an SMS Text Messaging platform to enable registered riders to check bikes in and out. It is the first stationless bike sharing system to be implemented in the country, and is easy to install, cost-effective to maintain and a fraction of the up-front investment required by station-based models. Our target market is small communities and colleges, who tend to lack a deep budget for bike transportation, making weBike the perfect solution for flexible, budget-friendly bike sharing.

Since the September launch at Mazza, weBike has registered 85 users, logged more than 350 rides, and exchanged 2,500 text messages with their user base. We are working out kinks with our locks, because combinations aren't always changed and some people have been able to use bikes without our knowledge.

They're trying to figure out where to go next and whether or not to charge users.

The advisor, David Kirsch, associate professor of management and entrepreneurshiphas some ideas for them including using the fee to keep bikes evenly dispersed, doing more to create a community and doing research on what kind of customers they want to find.

I like the party for members idea. I went to a few zipcar and flexcar parties in my day. I'm ready for the Capital Bikeshare party (whenever that might be...)

I worry about weBike. It's a good idea, but they've chosen an odd niche. And I worry that they're too far behind Bixi and Bcycle to catch up. Both benefit from the network effect that only gets stronger with each city added. New cities have an incentive to use those systems ("your users can use their key in 9 other American cities"). But what do I know? I thought priceline groceries was a brilliant idea.



 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Allie]

Hey there, I'm one of the team members of weBike. I appreciate you picking up on mention in the Post!

I just wanted to throw a thought on there in terms of our niche, since you mentioned it seemed odd. The service weBike offers is targeting a completely different market than Bixi, Bcycle,. The cost to put on systems of that nature (station-based) runs ~$4k per bike. Our system can be implemented for less than $600 per bike. Since only large cities can really afford to shell that level of cost and infrastructure, n station-based systems solutions to bike sharing will not fly for the rest of the markets out there - college campuses, small communities and developments, corporate campuses, etc.

That's where an affordable, more customize-able option comes into play, and it's the reason why weBike's system exists. Our aim is to empower anyone to implement bike sharing in their community. Since the trend is finally catching on and growing in the US market, the demand for systems that can deliver what customers need is high .. and the market is open for any system that can prove successful.

If you want a bit more details on what we're actually doing right now with weBike, check out this article, which has a bit more depth than the Wash Post article..
http://thecityfix.com/for-bikesharing-forget-stations-all-you-need-is-a-phone/

Thanks for the mention!