New London Ebike hire - Tenders Invited

[shemozzle999]

Dealer/Brand opportunity?

£3M to £50M up for grabs from TfL!

http://www.government-online.net/public-hire-e-bike-scheme-london/

 

[trex]

these guys will do it:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/herts-a-new-company-i-had-not-heard-of.20350/

... these guys are serious operators, obviously having other Business interests, they were loading a truck with 200 converted bikes for a Polish Customer, in talking to them they have not advertised in the UK but they are now preparing to trade in the UK - big time I think..

 

[Cyclezee]

Hmm, think I will pass on that one

Over to you Hatti

 

[Kudoscycles]

The word 'NIGHTMARE' springs to mind. I know of no UK e-bike supplier that would have the infrastructure to maintain such a scheme.
Also I know of no current e-bike that would be ok to use on such a scheme,the bikes would have to be fully sealed with no rider access to any of the electrics to avoid 'fiddling'
The health and safety implications including liability insurance would be difficult to overcome.
But it's that word maintain that would cause so much stress...
See the scenarios...mobile calls to the help centre
....I hired a bike from Haringey,the battery has run out in St Albans,what do I do?
....I've bought the bike back but there is no vacant charging port left to return it,what do I do?
....I left it outside a pub in East London,can't remember which one,it's easy to identify someone threw up on it,what do I do?
....All the bikes are taken and I am late for the Green Party conference,what do I do?
.....It won't go,what do I do?
Who built,installed the Boris bikes,without the additional complexity of electricity I understand that the bikes are always in the wrong place and need trucks to move them around. Despite being built like tanks and as simple as possible they must be a maintenance nightmare.
I think I will avoid.
KudosDave

 

[trex]

Hmm, think I will pass on that one

Over to you Hatti

that'll be a lot of SLA batteries for Hatti to lug around London.

 

[Cyclezee]

The word 'NIGHTMARE' springs to mind. I know of no UK e-bike supplier that would have the infrastructure to maintain such a scheme.
Also I know of no current e-bike that would be ok to use on such a scheme,the bikes would have to be fully sealed with no rider access to any of the electrics to avoid 'fiddling'
The health and safety implications including liability insurance would be difficult to overcome.
But it's that word maintain that would cause so much stress...
See the scenarios...mobile calls to the help centre
....I hired a bike from Haringey,the battery has run out in St Albans,what do I do?
....I've bought the bike back but there is no vacant charging port left to return it,what do I do?
....I left it outside a pub in East London,can't remember which one,it's easy to identify someone threw up on it,what do I do?
....All the bikes are taken and I am late for the Green Party conference,what do I do?
.....It won't go,what do I do?
Who built,installed the Boris bikes,without the additional complexity of electricity I understand that the bikes are always in the wrong place and need trucks to move them around. Despite being built like tanks and as simple as possible they must be a maintenance nightmare.
I think I will avoid,good one for Hatti......
KudosDave

Exactly

 

[shemozzle999]

The word 'NIGHTMARE' springs to mind. I know of no UK e-bike supplier that would have the infrastructure to maintain such a scheme.
Also I know of no current e-bike that would be ok to use on such a scheme,the bikes would have to be fully sealed with no rider access to any of the electrics to avoid 'fiddling'
The health and safety implications including liability insurance would be difficult to overcome.
But it's that word maintain that would cause so much stress...
See the scenarios...mobile calls to the help centre
....I hired a bike from Haringey,the battery has run out in St Albans,what do I do?
....I've bought the bike back but there is no vacant charging port left to return it,what do I do?
....I left it outside a pub in East London,can't remember which one,it's easy to identify someone threw up on it,what do I do?
....All the bikes are taken and I am late for the Green Party conference,what do I do?
.....It won't go,what do I do?
Who built,installed the Boris bikes,without the additional complexity of electricity I understand that the bikes are always in the wrong place and need trucks to move them around. Despite being built like tanks and as simple as possible they must be a maintenance nightmare.
I think I will avoid.
KudosDave

Like all establishment funding you are missing the point - the scheme doesn't have to work - you just take the money

 

[trex]

As shemozzle999 said, you just take the money. You hire Accenture consultants to get you the contract, subcontract out the design and manufacturing to our friendly French and German neighbours and the maintenance to Hatti who'll work for peanuts.

 

[Kudoscycles]

Like all establishment funding you are missing the point - the scheme doesn't have to work - you just take the money

Your right of course,how naive of me.....De Lorean had the business model.
And when this doesn't work,we blame the consultants,employ another set of consultants,establish an enquiry and roll out the doesn't work scheme all over London....trouble is I have this annoying aspect of my personality ,called pride,which would want the thing to be a success.
Dave

 

[shemozzle999]

Your right of course,how naive of me.....De Lorean had the business model.
And when this doesn't work,we blame the consultants,employ another set of consultants,establish an enquiry and roll out the doesn't work scheme all over London....trouble is I have this annoying aspect of my personality ,called pride,which would want the thing to be a success.
Dave

Yes I agree KD, not for you - it will be interesting to see who takes the bait

 

[shemozzle999]

It is not even that big a deal when you look into it.

120 months commitment for a possible £50M max

 

[flecc]

J C Decaux who run the Paris Velib scheme could be interested since the already operate extensively here in the street advertising field.

They had to bully the Paris authorities for extra cash once that bike scheme's huge costs were fully realised, but this looks safer for them and their hire bike design is long established.
.

 

[jonathan75]

I think ebikes in London would do more for ebiking in Britain than anything I can think of - anyone popping into the capital can see how lovely a pedelec is to ride, just for a couple of quid.

 

[trex]

a quick reading of the outline document suggests about 1,000 bikes, 5 years, 100 miles per day per bike. Each bike must be made to run and be maintained for 200,000 miles at the cost of about 50,000 each - running cost: 25p per mile max. It's possible.

 

[flecc]

I can't see anything like 100 miles per day per bike in a London borough. The existing bike hire scheme has most of the bikes used only for the rush hours and the journeys only.

Where the existing London scheme came unstuck was on charging, free for the first period of time. People therefore mainly used them only for rides within that time, resulting in a very low income and keeping mileages low. EddieO's daughter used them for a year without paying a penny, just as so many others do.

The catch 22 of this is that if the shortest journeys are charged, people will often walk instead, if they aren't charged, people do as above and the journeys are kept short to avoid charges.
.

 

[trex]

the bikes can be fully charged all the time if they restrict the rental time to 1 hour. The bike must then travel less than 15 miles and won't be released from the docking bay / made available until it's fully recharged. I can see Moustache designing such a bike.

 

[flecc]

That makes the 100 miles a day even less likely.
.

 

[trex]

I have a soft spot for French quirky designs.

 

[Kudoscycles]

I have a soft spot for French quirky designs.

Renault Megane ?

 

[trex]

Inventors are usually highly regarded in France, even small towns have 'clubs des inventeurs' - but this one was well ahead of its time: