Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2013, when Citi Bike had recently opened in New York; the launch figures it cites for rentals, distance ridden and stolen bicycles refer to the scheme’s first days.
There is business in bicycles, and this business will probably keep growing, especially in big capital cities, as we become more environmentally aware. One of the business ideas we presented in a previous article was bike rental.
In the United States, big companies are emerging around this business. The latest one recently opened in New York City: Citi Bike, which had a spectacular launch, with 6,000 rentals, 14,000 km ridden and only one bicycle stolen (that should be said too).
In Japan, the business goes further: they have created an underground bicycle car park, where users only have to leave their bicycle on the platform and a robot takes care of storing it. We take our ticket and can pick the bike up later.
The following video shows exactly how the system works.
Watch: How the robotic underground bicycle park works
Car parks for vehicles will probably end up working the same way: we will only have to leave the car at street level, and a robotic platform will store the vehicle and later bring it back to us.
Further reading
- 6 business ideas that started in Asia
- 6 new business ideas that started in the United States
- 8 new and profitable business ideas from around the world
Featured image: Hirho, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
