www.theworldbike.com
Addresses Unadressed Demand and Need
Urban populations are expected to double over the next forty years. Most of that growth will most likely be in developing cities. Already resource constrained, many of these developing cities are in desperate need of low cost, flexible transportation systems. To address that need, we are working on The World Bike project to deliver the lowest possible bikeshare services to these developing cities. Below are sample target markets.
| City | 2010 Pop (MM) | 2025 Pop (MM) | Increase (MM) |
| Delhi | 22.16 | 28.57 | 6.41 |
| Mumbai | 20.04 | 25.81 | 5.77 |
| Dhaka | 14.65 | 20.94 | 6.29 |
| Kolkata | 15.55 | 20.11 | 4.56 |
| Karachi | 13.12 | 18.73 | 5.60 |
| Lagos | 10.58 | 15.81 | 5.23 |
| Kinshasa | 8.75 | 15.04 | 6.29 |
| Manila | 11.63 | 14.92 | 3.29 |
| Al-Qahirah | 11.00 | 13.53 | 2.53 |
Drives Out Excess
While cities like New York and Chicago can spend over $10,000/bike just to set up, developing cities cannot spend anything approaching that number. The World Bike project’s target is drive out all frills and to deliver a bikeshare program at under $600/bike (More information forthcoming at www.theworldbike.com).
An Evolutionary Improvement
The most significant way to drive down cost is to shift from the older smart-dock technology made famous by Vélib’ to newer smart-lock technology. Launched in 2007, Vélib‘ comes from the landline phone mindset. In contrast, the newer smart-lock technologies are from the smartphone and/or cellphone mindset. This works well in developing cities because they skipped the landline phone technology and leapfrogged straight to the cellphone technology.
The most obvious benefit of the newer technology is getting rid of the dock itself. Not only is the dock expensive to install and maintain, two or three are required for each bike to make the system work.
Financial Benefits
In addition to dramatically lower set-up costs, the newer smart-lock offers:
- Lower Maintenance Costs
- Lower Replacement Costs
- Less Risk
Social Benefits
- Works with most bikes/Local manufacturing – This means that the bikes can supplied from local companies of all varieties. One example is the bamboo bike which in addition to being manufactured locally, the bamboo can also be grown locally.
- Enables multiple operators - Whereas the smart-dock requires a single owner/operator, the smart-lock model can be franchised meaning that developing cities can accelerate the roll-out of bikes to more neighborhoods and encourage local ownership.
- Offers Second-Life Bikes - This was developed in conjunction with the Harvard Alumni bikeshare study for New York City bikeshare. When a bike in a bikeshare program is in need of refurbishment, that bike will be donated or sold-at-discount to groups in environmental justice and other bike-deficient areas.
- Provides Easy Access - The smart-dock bikeshare model is ultimately based on the old landline phone. While most people continue to shift from the landline phone to the smart phone, the Hoboken pilot uses the Social Bicycle smart-lock system which has an on-bike keypad (no smart phone needed).
- Has more opportunities for citizens without bank accounts - Dramatically lower set-up costs, an ability to franchise the technology and second-life-bikes makes it easier to make bikes available to all, including those without bank accounts.
- Is available in stations or in a completely open system - The smart-dock program only works with cumbersome stations. In contrast, the smart-lock (SoBi) program can be similarly placed in a station, or in other locations. The smart-lock is more flexible.
Advisory Team
- Chris Wogas, President, Bike and Roll
- Holly Parker, Director of Sustainable Transportation, Yale University
- Robert Weitzner, CEO NGine Ventures
- Scott Kolber, CEO Roadify
- Tom Glendening, CEO E3Think
Mumbai, India (source: Forte (Flickr))