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Steal this Idea: Safebike

First in a series of posts of business ideas that have occurred to me but have never have acted on. Feel free to act on these ideas. In the true spirit of "The Jerk"/Navin Johnson's Optigrab...remember where the idea came from. Any questions, see my Creative Commons License


The Pitch
In New York you will inevitably be hanging out at a friend's apartment and see a brand new expensive (?!) mountain bike looking lonely, longing and shiny in a corner. A conversation ensues:

You: Nice bike.
Them:Thanks.
You: Ever ride it?
Them: Nope.
You: Why not?
Them: Don't want to get it stolen...no place to lock it up.
You: Pass the cheez doodles.

No place to lock it up. Enter Safebike. Safebike would be strategically located, stand-alone small buildings, open 24 hours manned by an attendant who would make sure no-one takes your bike. Locations would have to be carefully scouted. Some ideas: Union Square, near Central Park, Financial District.

Fees could be hourly, daily, monthly...same structure as a car parking lot but cheaper.
Cash flow profile is good, low overhead, low risk, high demand.

Competition Bike locks: A good one can cost in the neighborhood of $80-100. At $5-10 a month, wouldn't you rather be able to park with piece of mind...after all, look what you're up against.

Other Factors
Space is at a premium. Use Safebike to store your bike instead of your 400 sq. foot studio.
If the business gets off the ground, more locations will pop up making the service even more convenient.

Big Picture
I once heard of a bike advocacy group that was lobbying hard to make Park Avenue entirely bike traffic. Makes sense as the main reasons people don't take their bikes out is it's dangerous and that the bike's going to disappear.

Think about the environmental implications of a city full of bikes...

Closing factoid
But it was one thing to rhapsodize about the individual freedom offered by the horseless carriage when there were a few thousand of them spread across the nation; it is quite another matter when there are 200 million of them. In 1911 a horse and buggy paced through Los Angeles at 11 miles per hour. In 2000, an automobile makes the rush hour trip averaging four miles per hour. American drivers are stuck in traffic for eight billion hours a year. Young graduates entering the workforce in the summer of 2000 will spend four years of their lives behind the wheel.
Published on Sunday, July 9, 2000 in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Here's a good resource on biking and alternative transportation.

Note: "Steal this Idea" is a stolen idea, lifted from the mind of [sic]. Posted by Neil at March 9, 2004 10:49 PM | TrackBack