Rambo76

Eddie, my head is not that bad:-) have seen it all, the way they cross at times (not at crossing!!!) has made my head spin indeed, seen it on Camden High Road just 10 days ago - family and all, let me tell you - would rather have them as driver next to me than in front of me, and keep in mind 14 is the minimum age for Electric bikes - unlike street crossing.

Eddie, they are here as matter of fact, and the London economy gets a real boost (think of Hotels they occupy, taxi they use, shopping etc) by them, and they would be less dangerous on the road than crossing it... KK was a typo, I meant Kings Cross indeed - the place will become much worse in the next few years but my idea was only to get them to the bikes - not they should hover around there as KC is no attraction as far as I remember...

Yes and no... Uber & BNB are introducing private car / home owners into the big world, so BNB charges a fee + payment processing fee, we can't do that as we are targeting B2B and our members are less "limited" in alternative options. Still, volume has major advantages, think of insurance (and even payment processing) done large scale whilst system costs are fully covered by members ++++. Might be time to move this conversation out of the forum into private?

Agreed, OTA's would kill the idea of the business, it would have to be member based and built on long term agreements with providers. It's not just copycats who will threaten the business, a bike shop might see the volume and decide to do it alone gaining the few £ - all a matter of getting early on board and binding the shop owners to long term agreements.

James, I need to know: - If I send you over a couple, "Mr. & Ms. Chang" for example, who booked a 3 day bike rental in London on a Platform (fully prepaid and 100% insured) - would you be ready & able to cater for them, out of stock (new, display, seconds)? - How many classes would you assume, you would have? Basic, medium, premium etc.? And would you be able to reserve a certain number of bikes for that purpose? - Assuming you would be ready to explore this, how much would you be ready to pay for a booking platform that does all the marketing, processes payments securely and of course pushes renters to you (per booking)?

Just finished meeting on a morning coffee discussing the subject with a top tech guy. Trex, happy to say - sorry mate, you are far off! Things look much better, certainly for stage 1.

Honestly? Far and above what I had in mind, will check here comparable offers (am currently in a Tech haven country...) to see if these figures are indeed the ones to count on.

E Exactly. A professional bike shop, face to face with a expert, different ball game. Read Spanish press, this is main problem in Madrid: no one there to observe, teach and secure.

From all written and brainstormed here in the last few days, I could definitely see a platform that provides opportunity for bike shops to rent out would do the job, mainly in London. The platform would provide booking, payment, division into 3 groups with same pricing across the board and return to same spot, and use group purchasing power to negotiate insurance deal. It would combine all ebike facilities available, starting in the bigger cities (London, Manchester etc) and eventually move across the pond - giving small store owners the booking & marketing power to draw renters from all over the world, all based on the same lease contract & terms with platform taking % fee per rental. Platform, as Trex mentioned, needs no maintainance of locations & bikes etc. The only thing I would do is maybe have 1 main location (similar to Avis Prestige) that will carry the real top premium bikes in the trade, for a cash loaded Chinese family or a Sheikh on visit from Qatar... Trex, you put me on steroids here:-)

From all written and brainstormed here in the last few days, I could definitely see a platform that provides opportunity for bike shops to rent out would do the job, mainly in London. The platform would provide booking, payment, division into 3 groups with same pricing across the board and return to same spot, and use group purchasing power to negotiate insurance deal. It would combine all ebike facilities available, starting in the bigger cities (London, Manchester etc) and eventually move across the pond - giving small store owners the booking & marketing power to draw renters from all over the world, all based on the same lease contract & terms with platform taking % fee per rental. Platform, as Trex mentioned, needs no maintainance of locations & bikes etc. The only thing I would do is maybe have 1 main location (similar to Avis Prestige) that will carry the real top premium bikes in the trade, for a cash loaded Chinese family or a Sheikh on visit from Qatar... Trex, you put me on steroids here:-)

James, stop thinking of a docking station on the street where every drunk can pick one up.... We are talking about secure locations, either in store or seperate - no comparison to Madrid or to Boris bike

Great comment! Looked at the pricing there on the ebikes, breakeven after 30 days of Gross daily rental....

Hmmmmm..... Becoming interesting by now... Now it's about checking those wanting to play along in the trade - your idea of Demo might be slightly problematic as there will be various bikes on display in different shops, making it harder for pricing (unless we use classes as in Car rental industry, with a Kalkhoff as "premium" etc.), makes my investor adrenaline already flow:-), and the service level of the future brand can not be maintained 100% if outsourced - but again, the idea seems very interesting. Trex - would you walk into the den, asking for 250'000 for 15%?

Subcri Subscription fees on 10£ p.a. assuming it covers website costs, how do you see the main costs covered (bikes, locations)? What investment volume do you have in mind? Very interesting to brainstorm!

Very interesting, but my concern with a membership is mainly on the volume of initial investment - you can't work with members but not have enough bikes to cater for! This makes startup costs very heavy. Starting up with 1 location, booking on website, reservation deposit prepaid to reserve & secure, no bike no availability, pick up and pay rest + deposit by card + insurance cover.

Membership fee etc eliminates visitors / tourists, and many countries still don't have chip & pin on cards.

Kud KD, I am not chasing the bike - no return, payment method reserve (frozen at rental) gets used - period. Think of Car Rental, not mail order.

T Trex, do you mean Coop or do you mean NetJet style? And what economy of scale are you thinking off?

K Kudos, many kids rent vehicles and smash them or run out of fuel, so what? No return, your CC gets hit in full.

Agree that Boris style, where there is no knowledge of renter, might cause those issues. A renter walking into a rental branch and placing a CC + Insurance is a different story altogether.

Rental insurance exists for e-bikes covering all those in full, the costs are rolled over to renters as in car rental (with excess on CC). Have not clarified costing yet in the UK, but comparing to similar schemes in other countries they are reasonable.

Yes I did, and for some reason some are here at the forum comparing it time and again to Boris bikes. I see Hertz / Avis as guide, you hire, you insure... As simple as that, theft and damage are the renters problem as much as with a vehicle they would rent, and rental & storage are at the location, again - fully secured & insured.

Andy plans are anyhow medium to long term, and with new Mayor there is zero clarity if it will even proceed anywhere (as I gleaned yesterday from a chat with his office @ GLA)! In any case, I still strongly believe there is room - amongst the millions visiting London - for a high quality ebike rental place.

So Sorry James but can only agree with Trex, let alone the fact that many hop on Boris bikes without being "experienced riders".

All this applies to normal bikes, Boris or others, not to the ebikes catering for those who are not as sporty but still want to enjoy the streets and feel the vibe. Amsterdam and Berlin are also flat, it's all about covering distances with minimal effort.