may Uber Drivers make more cash Renting Bikes?

Like automobiles, bikes frequently sit down around for lots of the day. however they have not been easy to make part of the sharing economic system. the money someone can make from renting out a bicycle—in comparison with, say, a spare room on Airbnb—would possibly not appear worth the trouble it takes.

however a new startup wants to vary that, making it easy to rent out a spare ride or, for entrepreneurs, create a complete business round a fleet of bikes. The Copenhagen-based totally startup, called AirDonkey, makes use of a bluetooth-enabled lock that keeps track of where the bike is located. An app remotely unlocks the bike for any individual who desires to make use of it.

With a few dozen bikes, the founders calculate that anyone may earn sufficient cash from AirDonkey to make it a full-time job. “We checked out what an AirDonkey entrepreneur may make per week, in comparison with an Uber driver,” says Erdem Ovacik, co-founding father of the startup. “We’re seeking to be extra attractive.”

A full-time Uber driver in the city may make $900 in a week after bills like gas. An AirDonkey micro-entrepreneur could make $1,200 with a fleet of 70 bikes, the company claims (assuming many individuals join and in truth use the app). And managing a fleet of bikes is extra flexible than riding a automobile.

“the enormous chance right here is that you can work every time,” Ovacik says. “With Uber you need to power in rush hour to make a buck. here, you provider the bikes which might be damaged within the off hours. You don’t have to fret about anything.”

it’s also designed to be simple sufficient to make use of that it can be worth it for any person who has an extra bike, or anyone who only wants a motorcycle for a short time. Ovacik contrasts it with Spinlister, a bike-sharing app that has gone thru a few struggles.

“For decrease-price assets, it would not make feel to take your time to hire it out,” he says. “Spinlister’s in point of fact precious if you need unique tools, or if you would like a motorbike for a month. the person who rents out the bike must have sufficient financial incentive to head through all of the bother. What we would like is one thing easy, and so low-price it is inexpensive for everybody to take it out for a day, and even half of a day.”

for the reason that bike may also be unlocked remotely—and left anyplace—the owner and renter will not have to meet in individual. If the owner needs to journey it themselves, they may be able to easily make the bike unavailable.

For tourists, the carrier is designed to be easier to use than both a bike rental shop or a city bike share device. If somebody desires a child’s bike, or a cargo bike, or the rest that is not a regular measurement, they may be capable of find it within the device. They won’t have to worry about returning to a shop all the way through specific hours, or dropping the bike off at a selected bike rack, as with a motorbike share program.

The bike can be left anyplace in a definite zone. for an additional fee, somebody can leave it farther away; the company is talking to Uber drivers about delivering the bikes back to their house owners. (This works in Copenhagen, as a minimum, the place Uber cars all the time have bike racks.)

As they designed their app, AirDonkey noticed how difficult it was once to make use of a carrier like Copenhagen’s city bike share software, which takes several minutes of signing up sooner than you could experience off. They took extra inspiration from Uber. “It should be, like, three steps,” Ovacik says. “Put for your credit card, out you go. you do not want people to wait round. Uber has carried out that superbly.”

The carrier will launch first in northern Europe, partially as a result of bike theft is less standard there; in a spot just like the U.S., bikes have to be locked up extra securely, making the electronic locking gadget extra of a problem. however the firm can be developing a brand new lock to be able to include a built-in chain—and plans to quickly take the company international.

AirDonkey will launch on Kickstarter in mid-October.