Uber is the first Dutch city to choose Rotterdam for shared bicycles and its electric shared bicycle brand Jump. The American company will release more than 500 two-wheelers on Thursday in the Maasstad. The plan is that there will eventually be an electric bicycle in the city every XNUMX meters that you can use.
A similar project in Amsterdam failed two years ago
A similar project failed not only in Amsterdam, but also in Rotterdam has a similar concept go bike didn't make it. According to Martijn van Es of the Fietsersbond, this is because the user is less careful with shared bicycles because the bicycle is not his own.
“The bicycle is not their own, so they just put it somewhere. Moreover, they are much more antisocial. In Amsterdam this came to a head because they were everywhere and blocked alleys. ”
Uber cooks the red shared bike brand Jump last year for $ 200 million, after which the service expanded to 30 cities in 10 countries. De bike sharing is a success in other European cities. In Berlin, for example, this concept is very popular. But not everyone has a bicycle there, here in the Netherlands they do.
With 500 electric bicycles, Uber in Rotterdam competes with the shared bicycles of Donkey Republic. Competitor Gobike filed for Chapter XNUMX bankruptcy last August, resulting in bankruptcy.
Uber has better lines with the city council
The difference with Donkey Republic is that Uber has managed to get the green light from the city council for one free floatingconcept, whereby bicycles can be left anywhere in the city, within the Jump area.
The bicycles receive a starting rate of 1 euro, with a bill of 20 cents per minute afterwards. Like meal delivery service Uber Eats, bicycles and scooters are one way of boosting profitability for Uber, which saw its stock market value plummet from $ 82 billion to $ 55 billion today since its IPO last May.
