UK social startup Cycle.land is offering a social bike-sharing platform to pair up people with a spare bike with those seeking to rent one for as little as 50 pence (or US$0.65) per day.
San Francisco Bay Area’s Go Ford Bike Sharing prices rentals up to $10 per day by comparison.
The Berkeley ConnectionCycle Land’s Roots
Cycle.land was founded in April 2016 in Oxford by Agne Milukaite and in January 2017 the startup joined the notable Cambridge Social Ventures accelerator program, run by the Cambridge Center for Social Innovation at Cambridge Business School, to get support and advice for successfully scaling-up.
Milukaite had moved to Berkeley, California to work for a Canadian home robotics company after graduating with a Masters in Migration Studies at Oxford University. A keen cyclist, she returned to Oxford to launch Cycle.land.
Differentiators
Milukaite says that Cycle.land’s business proposition is more personalized than other bike-sharing platforms.
“Our approach is more personal and flexible,” she says. “On Cycle.land’s platform people interact with each other, book the bikes for the particular time, and maybe even meet to pick up the bike and exchange knowledge about cycling. It is ideal if you need a bike for a weekend, a week, or a few months.”
Cycle.land offers a selection of different bikes including road bikes, cargo bikes and tandems, and people can book a bike in advance and keep the bike for a long time.
Joining
Bike-renters create a profile on Cycle.land’s website, upload a picture of their bike and indicate when and for what fee it is available.
Riders looking to rent a bike also create a profile and start searching – and when a suitable bike is found, contact the owner for more information on payment, where to pick the bike up and get a code for the lock.
Source: Enterprising Oxford
