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Case study
Bike Sharing Systems: Motivate Company
By: Tapiwa Steve Mandaa, Rup Chandra Hamal & Jibola Leventis Agboola
Date: 30 November 2015
To understand the market better here are some market dynamics for the bike sharing sector. Since
the launch of bike sharing systems more than 855 systems exists worldwide with 237 of the total
operating in China alone. In a report from Transport Reviews a London based journal the most
important part of bike sharing is not the availability of the service in many cities, but whether people
were actually using the service is what matters most and will lead to benefits associated with the
system. Below is a chart that shows observed number of bicycles in selected cities around the world
(Stein, 2015).
In Washington DC, 69 percent of more than 11,100 members surveyed using the bike sharing
system said they were motivated to use the system because of the importance of getting where they
needed fast and the distance between the bike station and their home also contributed to their
motivation of subscribing to the system. The major attracting factor of the system, however, is its
cost. In the same report by Transport Reviews, in London the percentage of low income earners
using the system rose from 6 to 12 percent between 2010 and 2013, also the associated health
benefits are estimated to have additionally increased the duration of physical activity by 74 million
minutes to Londoners using the service (Fishman, 2015).
The wide spread and pace of adoption of the bike sharing system makes it an attractive solution to
invest towards developing solutions for the transport industrys problems. Hence, Motivate formerly
Alta Bike Share is a market leader in the bike share industry. Motivate is a New York based Bikeshare
Holdings LLC subsidiary, that was founded in Portland USA in 2009. The company was recently
acquired by Bikeshare Holdings LLC in October 2014, thereby relocating its headquarters to New
York. Motivate provides solutions for the bike sharing system to companies willing to invest in the
industry by helping with the location assessment of the stations, system maintenance structures,
solutions for expansion and marketing. Since its establishment as Alta Bike Share, Motivate currently
manages bike share systems in several cities across the US, Canada and Australia providing a flexible
and unique bike transit system for completing short journeys around cities as opposed to the
traditional long term bike rental companies.
Each of the helmet dispensing system can keep and supply 36 adjustable helmets with different
sizes, which cost $2 a day for rental and payment can be done via a credit card (Time Inc, 2013).
This innovation became the first helmet dispenser system in the US and many firms that deal with
bike sharing have showed much interest in the innovative product (Time Inc, 2013).
References
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Fishman, E. (2015). Bikeshare: A Review of Recent Literature. Transport Reviews.
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Stein, P. (2015, May 22). Bike-share programs are expanding worldwide. Are they successful?
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/bike-share-programs-areexpanding-worldwide-are-they-successful/2015/05/22/59c93cba-ff23-11e4-8b6c0dcce21e223d_story.html
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