Never riding a scrap metal bicycle again

Paying a monthly fee for music and films has become common, so the founders of Swapfiets have now adopted the subscriptionmodel to the bicycle market.

Don’t call it a shared bike. The Swapfiets is something completely differen, says Steven Uitentuis, director of the young company from Delft. “We don’t dump bicycles in cities hoping that people want to use them. We lend you a bicycle against a monthly fee.”

Leasebike isn’t correct either, because Swapfiets is still the owner of the bike. If you want to give it a name, call it a subscriptionbike. Uitentuis: “Swapfiets isn’t part of the sharing economy, but of the ownership to usership movement”.

The Swapfiets, recognizable by  the blue fron tyre, is gaining traction. There are now 90-100 new subscribers every day, and just last week #20.000 signed up.  That same week Swapfiets also opened a location in Arnhem, the 12th city  where the company is now active. This week The Hague will follow, and in December Breda.