The number of deployed vehicles in bike-sharing schemes worldwide is forecasted to grow from 23.2 million in 2019 to reach 35.8 million in 2024, according to market watcher Berg Insight.
 
Bike sharing is a decentralised bicycle rental service, usually focusing on short-term rentals, that supplements other modes of transport including walking and public transport. Traditionally, most bike-sharing operators have used station-based networks operated through public-private partnerships. This operational model requires members to pick up and return the vehicle at any designated station within a city.
 
In Europe and North America, station-based bike sharing is the most popular operating model. Another model that is rapidly gaining in popularity is free floating services, which enables members to pick up and drop off vehicles anywhere within a designated area. Today, free floating bike sharing has become the most common bike-sharing service in terms of deployed vehicles.
 
There are hundreds of commercial bike-sharing service providers worldwide.
 
“Prominent bike-sharing operators include Hellobike, Meituan Bike, Jump (owned by Uber), Motivate (owned by Lyft), JC Decaux, Donkey Republic and Nextbike”, said Martin Svegander, senior analyst at Berg Insight.
 
The vehicles used in bike-sharing schemes are usually robust to endure more frequent usage than privately owned bicycles. In addition, both free floating and station-based operators have in the past year launched bike-sharing schemes comprising electric pedal-assisted bikes (e-bikes) to widen the service area and attract new customer segments.
 
There are now a handful companies on the market specialising in bike-sharing technology.
 
“Examples of providers include companies such as Bewegen Technologies, Conneqtech, Omni, PBSC Urban, Sitael, Smoove, SoftTech Interactive and Youon Bike Technologies,” said Svegander.
 
These companies provide complete offerings including telematics hardware, user identification and bike locks, information kiosks, fleet management platforms, and mobile apps. Over time, features such as yield management using dynamic pricing will be needed to support evolving services and increasingly complex partnerships with other mobility service providers.
 
“A growing share of bike-sharing operators will adopt dedicated software platforms from specialised third-party vendors in the future, rather than relying on systems developed in-house,” said Svegander.
 
Software companies specialising in shared micromobility services that serve both bike-sharing and scooter-sharing services include Joyride, Urban Sharing, ElectricFeel and Wunder Mobility.