Biz Students See Ripe Market for Bike-Share in NYC
A Nextbike kiosk in Tubingen, Germany. Image: Eldersign via Flickr. With bike-share systems launching in three major American cities this year, the question naturally arises: Does New York have an appetite for bike-sharing?
Patricia Bayley and Martin Mazza say yes. Students at Barcelona's IESE, one of Europe's top business schools, Bayley and Mazza intend to open a bike-sharing company in New York City.
Along with a third student, Adrian Lui, Bayley and Mazza were recently selected as finalists in the "NYC Next Idea" business model competition. Sponsored by the NYC Economic Development Corporation, the competition invited graduate students from around the world to compete for seed money and free space in one of the city's business incubators.
Though their team didn't win the competition, the feedback they received encouraged Bayley and Mazza to pursue their plan. If they can secure venture capital for the project, they're ready to start working on it full-time come graduation day.
At this point, they aren't ready to tip their hand about many details, such as where bike stations would be located. They do intend to use a subscription model fairly similar to those in other cities, and their submission called for eventually installing 40,000 bikes across all five boroughs, an ambition they will scale back. "One of the critiques from the judges was to start smaller and see how the consumer reacts," said Bayley.
Both Mazza and Bayley are veteran New York City cyclists. While studying in Barcelona, they've had ample time to observe Bicing, Barcelona's bike-share program. They think they can do better. "We can learn from their mistakes," said Mazza. Added Bayley, "One of the big problems here in Barcelona is that the city is on a hill. People are renting them at the top and dumping them at the bottom." Inspired by both the success and the shortcomings of Bicing, they see a market in American cities, especially in flat, tightly-knit New York.
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