EcoBike is a start-up company that wants to shake up the bike-sharing industry in a number of ways. Two of the most precious commodities in life is our health and time, and we want to help you with both!
The majority of students that travel to university from their halls or accommodation primarily walk, due to the cost of other transport options or simply, it is the most convenient. When I was a student, I had to walk over 45 minutes to get to university from my flat, and that is a lot of time wasted. Just think, one and a half hours a day simply getting to lectures and back – I could do so much more in that time. What if we could reduce that time to 30 minutes, without breaking the bank?
Well, that’s exactly what we plan to do. People are becoming aware that transport options are limited in most towns and cities, and whilst universities and local authorities are trying to do something which is sustainable and environmentally-friendly, it simply isn’t always cost-effective. One example of a bike-sharing scheme in the U.K, which costs the tax-payer, for one bike docking station and 10 bikes, costs £10,000! That is a ridiculous sum of money due to bureaucracy and many other issues that come with publicly-funded schemes. Most of these systems are heavily subsidised by either business through sponsorship, local authorities, central government and charities. We can provide a stationless system for much less, meaning we can pass these savings onto the user.
In the U.K, we cycle a very small amount (4% average of the U.K population). I’d like to change this, and bring us inline with our European neighbours. How can this be done? Simple – provide truly affordable, convenient transport with added benefits via our app.
You’ll not only get a new, fast, affordable and environmentally free transport option to get around your town, city or university, but you’ll also help to plant new forests, contribute to cleaning our nations fantastic yet rubbish ridden beaches, reduce pollution, reduce congestion, increase health and fitness or even donate to a general fund for EcoBike to donate to our partners. EcoBike will have a network of bikes around your area to allow you to get from A to B with ease.
In 2017, we understand that transparency is key for backers and that’s why we’re upfront about our costs. So here’s a breakdown of what we have worked out to be the total cost of this project. We want to run a small crowdfunding project for our MVP (minimal viable product) – which means we’re able to provide the app, a few bikes to test and trial with users and our admin service at the most basic level. We want to show that our way is better than all others in this market – with the help of you!
1. App development – £6,000
2. IndieGoGo Fees – £800
3. 5 bikes including locks for demonstrating our bikes around the U.K – £1,000
4. Marketing budget – to spread the word of EcoBike – £1,500
5. Buffer money for unforeseen expenses – £700
6. Staff costs – £0 – We’re doing this all without pay, because we believe in this company so much, so ZERO of the money we raise will go directly to us.
What happens if we over-fund?
We’d be absolutely thrilled if we over-funded, as we could do so much more with the money. Any money we get over our £10,000 target, we’ll use that to make a better app, add improved features, purchase more bikes to showcase in the U.K and visit universities, towns and cities to spread the word about EcoBike. Simply put, the extra money would speed up our plans and bring us to launching much quicker! So every little helps.
So what are the perks of this app?
It couldn’t be simpler to use the app. We’ve designed it so that you can find a bike in the user’s vicinity, with icons clearly showing where the bikes are. You can tap on the bike you want, and reserve it for up to 10 minutes, giving you time to walk to the bike’s location as well as ensuring that you have a ride home. Once the user finds the bike, they scan the QR code – wait a few seconds and ta daaa, the Smart Lock will unlock and off they go. Simple right?
Bikes will be conveniently located around university halls and the campus – so that at any time, a user will be within a 100m radius of a bike. Convenience, affordability and user-driven experiences are what EcoBike is founded on.
Key Perks of the App
Some of the most interesting perks of the app are the following:
Our goal is just enough for us to get this off the ground – £10,000 – but with your help, that money will mean that we will be able to ask investors for extra funding to make EcoBike a reality.
We want you, the backers, to feel a part of this project every step of the way. We know that people who support campaigns on IndieGoGo like to feel part of something special. That’s why we’re making you, 100% apart of this journey. We’ll be adding ways for you to get involved, such as events around the U.K, naming our bicycles for certain areas and even choosing the colours of our bikes. We want lots of feedback to make you all feel one of the team, and above all, a successful launch.
What will your contribution mean?
It will mean a lot! Not only will it get this project funded, we also would love feedback on the project along with your opinions to shape and mould this new venture in the way that you, the users want, rather than what we think you want.
Your contribution will likely mean in the future, we’ll be collectively donating £1000’s to good causes. You will be a giver in many different ways, you will become part of our team, helping us to protect the UK’s air, water, forests and bees plus supporting other charities which aren’t all about the environment. You will be an essential cog in the EcoBike by allowing us to promote clean living, healthy lifestyles and create a cycling revolution which will benefit the whole of the UK, not just economically, but personally for people, their health, their wellbeing and much more.
We will update you every day via our YouTube posts or Blog posts, where we’ll show you information about meetings with manufacturers and designers, we’ll talk about the ins and outs of the business to provide you with the utmost transparent project you’ll back. We want you to trust us to deliver on our promises.
We aim to have within 1 year, 1000 bikes on the ground with over 1,000,000 individual hires and 10 million miles ridden, which will result in over ££££ donated to charity, millions of co2 being saved, millions of hours saved for our riders, £1000’s saved from switching to a low-cost transport option and most likely, a fitter group of people.
Be a backer, and make this happen. We have big goals – this is just the beginning.
Our initial work has led us to the current point we’re at. We have the bikes ready to be made, with our bike designed, we have a factory ready, we have the app developer ready to go, we have the locking mechanism and GPS tracking system ready, we have found potential offices in London, we have spoken with shipping companies for the bikes. There isn’t too much that will go wrong, but we all know anything in life can go wrong.
We are prepared for any issue that may come up – be it production, the rewards our backers will receive or the final hurdles of getting the bikes on the ground for users to hire.
As I’ve already mentioned, I don’t just want backing in the form of cash, which of course is important, but we want to create a community of people who can offer their advice and feedback to make this project go ahead smoothly.
Join us, be a backer, be an EcoBiker.
If you’ve got down to here, and you’ve read it all…then you MUST be keen in helping. So click one of those rewards on the right-hand side and support us simply, you can ‘Back Us‘ without receiving a reward, just because you’re that awesome.Thank you ever so much!