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I have put some thought into this. Particularly the bike business. Making money out of the bikes isn't hard. These bikes are super freaking cheap: 75 USD - 90

I have put some thought into this. Particularly the bike business. Making money out of the bikes isn't hard. These bikes are super freaking cheap: 75 USD - 90 USD for a Bike (https://m.alibaba.com/product/60710077310/export-EU-standard-alloy-rental-bike.html?spm=a2706.7843299.1998817009.6.4mwUPc https://m.alibaba.com/product/60710077310/export-EU-standard...) 1 USD - 25 USD for the remote lock (https://m.alibaba.com/product/60623794401/GPRS-Bluetooth-Choosing-Freely-Remote-Control.html?spm=a2706.7843299.1998817009.6.IgPQeV https://m.alibaba.com/product/60623794401/GPRS-Bluetooth-Cho...) At this scale I wouldn't be surprised that they could get a whole painted bike + the lock + all the importation costs and taxes for 100 USD (maybe even less). One ride costs 1 USD... That means they just need 100 rides to break even on a bike... If they get an average of 1 ride per bike in all their fleet (which is low imo), they just need 100 days of operation to break even on all their fleet. (These calculations don't take into account the operational costs, but you get the idea. As you grow and start creating more network effects and gaining economies of scales these costs will only grow linearly). According to Seattle City Data, the average ride per bike here is something around 0.6 rides per bike (daily). That would likely improve again once it starts warming up. Now regarding the Scooters, you could do a similar analysis. I was able to find foldable electric scooters at very cheap prices in bulk (45 USD, 80 USD, 70 USD, 120 USD, etc...). So it's also technically possible to break even very fast with scooters as well -> https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=electric+scooter https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product... Finally, there are more angles to a business like this. There's a huge component which is gov subsidies. Local governments love this crap and I can totally see them paying these companies for providing a reliable alternative transportation. Another angle is just plain cheap advertising. You can basically wrap these crappy bikes and scooters with ad decals. You could also monetize based on geo-location and sell contextual ads as well as selling the data to brands. You also made other good points like why wouldn't someone simply buy a scooter. What's appealing about this model is that you can just leave it anywhere. You don't have to get worried about this thing getting charged, or someone robbing it or vandalizing it. You use it when you need it and you continue with your life. Owning one adds an incredible amount of burden to something as mundane as moving from point A to point B.

lev99 9y ago
> According to Seattle City Data, the average ride per bike here is something around 0.6 rides per bike (daily). That would likely improve again once it starts warming up. In Seattle there are crews of people moving bikes around, usually from downhill areas to uphill areas. The public transportation & rideshare is good enough that many people are using bike shares for one way rides. Alternatively E-bikes might be used for the uphill half of the trip. The overhead of paying people to collect and move bikes doesn't scale the same way that app development and brand recognition does. I would really like to see the numbers on how many bikes are relocated before reuse, as well as numbers on how often bikes are stolen, damaged, or lost. I love biking, and I like the energy in urban biking that bike sharing is generating, but I am very bearish on the business of bike sharing.
- dzhiurgis 9y ago
  Self-driving electric bikes that can rebalance the system itself has a lot of potential, unless we keep giving priorities to cars.
borne0 9y ago
Admittedly I haven't tried those bikes but I imagine 90USD buys you a 90USD bike and the quality that goes with it. Boris/Citi/Bixi bikes cost considerably more but are incredibly robust.
- whoisjuan 9y ago
  They are Ok-ish. Not terrible. But you can definitely tell that they are cheap bikes.
- thinkythought 9y ago
  They break really, really quickly. Almost half of the ones i've ridden have had something broken. And not seemingly from abuse or collisions or anything, just stuff falling apart. Bad brakes, broken shifters, snapped off seat adjusters(the metal feels soda can cheap), bits just falling off from sheered off metal, etc.

lev99 9y ago

> According to Seattle City Data, the average ride per bike here is something around 0.6 rides per bike (daily). That would likely improve again once it starts warming up. In Seattle there are crews of people moving bikes around, usually from downhill areas to uphill areas. The public transportation & rideshare is good enough that many people are using bike shares for one way rides. Alternatively E-bikes might be used for the uphill half of the trip. The overhead of paying people to collect and move bikes doesn't scale the same way that app development and brand recognition does. I would really like to see the numbers on how many bikes are relocated before reuse, as well as numbers on how often bikes are stolen, damaged, or lost. I love biking, and I like the energy in urban biking that bike sharing is generating, but I am very bearish on the business of bike sharing.

dzhiurgis 9y ago
Self-driving electric bikes that can rebalance the system itself has a lot of potential, unless we keep giving priorities to cars.

borne0 9y ago

Admittedly I haven't tried those bikes but I imagine 90USD buys you a 90USD bike and the quality that goes with it. Boris/Citi/Bixi bikes cost considerably more but are incredibly robust.

whoisjuan 9y ago
They are Ok-ish. Not terrible. But you can definitely tell that they are cheap bikes.
thinkythought 9y ago
They break really, really quickly. Almost half of the ones i've ridden have had something broken. And not seemingly from abuse or collisions or anything, just stuff falling apart. Bad brakes, broken shifters, snapped off seat adjusters(the metal feels soda can cheap), bits just falling off from sheered off metal, etc.