LICENSING YELLOWBIKE’S DOCKING SYSTEMS
BENEFITS - hire out more bikes AND cut temporary / part-time staff costs.
Yellowbike’s docking systems enable bike hire companies to:
- rent bikes in busy times from their own location without having to employ extra staff to do all the paperwork and get the customer set up with a bike, or
- locate their bikes remotely where customers have easier access to them, thereby increasing the geographical reach of the service you offer.
It is anticipated that these remote docking stands be located at transport intersections like ferry terminals, railway stations, car parks, hotels and pubs as well as their own premises to service the tourist, day tripper, and cycling enthusiast. In this way more bikes can be hired out and more revenue earned for the business.
Yellowbike’s remote docking stands comprise:
- locks with an RFID facility, governed by our electronic systems,
- reservation and booking facilities, controlled by our Asset Management System,
- GPRS telecommunication systems to enable the customers to enter the appropriate PIN code to release their bike, and
- universal flanges, attached to the upright of each bike, to ensure it remains secure when docked
Location is the key to this opportunity, for to ensure a good profit, each bike needs to be rented 1.5 times per week in a 26 week season.
ECONOMICS of this opportunity are based on:
- a capital sum to be paid for buying the docking stands - these would be leased over 3 years by a finance company, and
- a service charge of 8.5% or £1.25 per hire, whichever is the largest, to be paid to cover the costs of the payment service provider, communication systems, website upkeep and advertising.
Assuming a daily hire charge of £15 per bike, a matrix of profit projections is set out below based on an initial investment of £1800 in March 2012 to procure docking stands and bikes for 2 Bike Parks each holding 4 bikes only.
|
Bike hires |
Initial |
2012 |
2013 |
End 2013 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
£1,800 |
£1,097 |
£9,391 |
£10,600 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
£1,800 |
£3,970 |
£25,079 |
£27,444 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
£1,800 |
£6,664 |
£61,177 |
£64,858 |
The figures above has been calculated on the assumption that 1) all the cash generated in Year 1 have been utilised to lease as many bikes and docking stands as possible to generate revenues in 2013, and 2) no further injection of cash is available.
Each docking stand secures 2 bikes. The cost of Yellowbike’s docking stand systems are as follows:
- 1 docking stand for 2 bikes: £1,950
- 2 docking stands for 4 bikes: £3,600
- 3 docking stands for 6 bikes: £5,250
- 4 docking stands for 8 bikes: £6,900
- 5 docking stands for 10 bikes: £8,550
HOW YELLOWBIKE’S SYSTEM WORKS is set out below.
Customer booking operation:
- Customer will check availability by entering the website or ringing the booking desk
- Once availability is confirmed, customer will identify how many bikes are required and when, and move to payment
- Customer will agree a deposit and agree to pay rental charges
- Customer will receive an acknowledgement that a reservation has been made by text.
Hiring:
- Customer will receive a text on the evening before the day of hire, advisingf bike number and release code.
- On attendance at Bike park, customer will enter #bike number release code, and their bike will be released.
Bike return:
- Customer will return the bike to the same bike park from which it was hired.
- On the successful docking of a returned bike, the customer will receive a text, acknowledging a safe return and thanking them for hiring from Yellowbike.
Hire company’s responsibilities:
- Hire company must ensure designated bike is available and in good condition
- Hire company must ensure the information on its website is accurate
- Hire company must answer calls and act as booking desk
- Hire company must reserve customers bikes on the Yellowbike website
- Hire company must provide someone to act as Bike Manager, responsible for checking on bikes and dealing with customer call outs.
Yellowbike’s obligations
- Yellowbike must set aside a webpage for the hire company to enable bikes to be reserved and hired
- Yellowbike will update the status to the hire company’s bikes within 30 minutes of any status change
- Yellowbike will make available a systems webpage to the hire company, showing summary of bike status, release codes and forthcoming hires.
- Yellowbike will provide a report to the hire company showing the number of hires per location
- Yellowbike will send alarms to the Bike Manager when bikes are not returned when they should be.
