Biking regularly has many great benefits like creating stronger bones, more flexible joints, lower stress and anxiety levels, and many more. Biking has its own perks. What if I tell you that you don’t need to own a bike to enjoy biking? Yes, you heard it right! You seek all the benefits of biking on a very low budget. But how is this possible? It’s possible through something called a bike-sharing program.

A bike-sharing program is a short-term service where bikes are provided on a sharing basis to an individual for a price.

This is most prevalent in urban areas to provide better public transportation with minimum pricing. There are many startups in this field. You can find a public bike-sharing program here.

Here are factors you should consider before you could start one: 

• Natural Environment

This has a lot of impact on how successful your startup will be. Suppose you started in a hilly terrain area. It might not work out as you would expect it due to the weather. Also, if the customer uses the bike to travel uphill, it would be hard for him to return since he would have to go down the whole way. But by using bike-sharing, it improves the probability of successful implementation of the program. Bike-sharing has been adopted by many companies across the globe and runs quite well.

• Create an appropriate strategy

Once you decide where you would start it, the next step would be to prepare a proper strategy. This could involve who your target riders would be, what model bikes would be used, what would be the pricing and subscription, how would you make sure your bikes are safe and are not damaged, and in the case of damages, what would be the penalty fee? If you plan to have bike sharing, then how you plan the marketing? You can appoint a qualified marketing management team for this. For pricing, you can provide daily passes for tourists, and for your regular customers, you can provide subscription plans.

• Brand awareness

This is a very important step in the process of creating a bike-sharing program. As you know, since there is good competition in this field, you have to publicize your brand. This is very essential because all your strategies will be implemented successfully only if people are aware of what you are providing them. You could create awareness by being a part of some campaign or you can start your own campaign on saving the environment which could grab the riders’ attention. You can offer a free trial period and offer a certain discount for the first customers. You can get associated with certain organizations working for the environment.  

Having your own bike-sharing company has its own pros and cons. However, you need to continue analyzing the current market and plan things accordingly. We have covered the major areas that need to be focused on before starting, but there is more to it than just that. 

 Since there many companies arising in this field, you need to have your own unique idea to sell the model and have a smart marketing plan. For improving the user experience, you can also ask for their feedback and improve the shortcomings accordingly. Have a good rapport with your employees and be open to taking useful suggestions from them or your customers.