Innovation

"Innovation is Innovation when it is sustainable," said Donald Clark. When there was no concept of sharing a bicycle in India, Mr. Arjit Soni took an innovative decision to start MYBYK in the heritage city – Ahmedabad. In 2014, at the age of 24, he came up with his own created operational model of a bicycle-sharing start-up.

The innovative idea was to start an affordable, environment-friendly, sustainable, and citizen-healthier public transport of sharing bicycle when most of the population was not aware of such kind of concept. His idea was not limited to the station to station sharing concept but also home to home mobility services.

The first challenge was to get support from the government to build cycle stations in the city full of fuel-based vehicles. Mr. Arjit showed his idea to the then Chief Minister of Gujarat and succeeded in getting support and permission from the government. This was the first big achievement for him. Today, after 6 years and many highs and lows, MYBYK has served 25,000 plus customers with 1,200 bicycles and 100 stations.

Get back to Cycling

Inspiration

Mr. Arijit Soni is an environmentalist, since childhood. During 10th & 12th standard, he came around the chapters on climate change and the environment that always interested him deeply.

When Arjit Soni was doing his Articleship at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Mumbai. Every day he commuted through the Mumbai local that worsened the daily grind. His hostel was in Andheri; the workplace was in Dadar. Despite offering more than the metered fare, he would never get a rickshaw or a cab to cover the short distance. One day, he took matters into his own hands and bought two bicycles: one to go from his hostel to Andheri station; the second cycle to go to the office from Dadar station. He did this for a few days, but couldn't continue due to the lack of secure parking spots at Andheri and Dadar.

In 2011, he moved back to Ahmedabad to join his father's-chartered accountancy practice, but the idea of bicycle sharing had stuck. The successful implementation of this system - Citibike in New York and Barclays Cycle Hire in London - fueled his hopes of replicating the idea in Ahmedabad.

Overall impact

The MYBYK business is growing and is already 7 years old in this sector. However, there have been many obstacles to it; the initial raising investment sounds simple but then raising funds was very challenging because Mr. Arjit Soni is the exclusive base for this venture. It was very difficult for MYBYK to raise capital.

The key motivation for developing MYBYK was to address issues of urban mobility and to get people to transfer to public transports. They have an impact on the well-being and happiness of people.

Even though the pandemic has overall decreased their ridership in public transit, many new individuals are entering the race as people are increasingly focused on their well-being. It also raises awareness of low carbon living, allows people to cycle in the form of more people engaging in low carbon travel, and supports effectively the option of healthy low carbon journey methods.

Business benefit

MYBYK operates under the umbrella brand of AhmedaBike and the corporation handles the marketing for MYBYK free of cost, provided they receive the content that needs to be published. Presently, MYBYK has roughly around 1,200 bicycles in the city, although MYBYK offers hourly plans to the customers, the major focus is on selling fixed-term subscriptions. For the B2B model, the company offers two services: SmartBYK and Hire. It is a weekly or a monthly plan where the customer can take the bike home.

MYBYK invests one asset per customer as long the customer is willing to pay the subscription charges. This proves to be a convenient option for the customers and also ensures revenue targets are being met. There is a 50-50 ratio between the hourly and the fixed term subscribers. In terms of hourly subscriptions, 3 customers subscribe per bicycle daily, the total hourly subscribers being 1,800 per day. The hourly rates are Rs. 2 per hour with a minimum ride charge of Rs. 15 for less than or equal to 7 hours, for 8 hours the charge is Rs. 16 and beyond 9 hours, the charge is Rs. 18. So, this pricing model is pocket-friendly for either of the customers and ensures profitability to MYBYK.

On the back of its expansion and increased B2B services, MYBYK is also looking to double or even triple its revenue from the current Rs 1.8 crore. Revenue for the calendar year 2018 stood at USD 248K up from 154K in the calendar year 2017. While the primary source of revenue has been bike rental, Mr. Soni is optimistic that once MYBYK has attained some scale in the city, he can use the space on a bicycle for advertisement perspectives in terms of revenue generation.

Social and environmental benefit

Mr. Arjit Soni has always been an environmentalist. Climate change has been an issue of deep concern for him. The core reason to start MYBYK has been to solve the urban mobility problem.

The utilization of these bikes alongside public transport not only aids in reducing the carbon footprint but also acts as a source of healthy exercise for individuals. The use of these bicycles is high in campuses and lake projects which indicates that a growing number of people do want to take out time out of their daily schedule to focus on their fitness.

MYBYK acts as an instrument of fitness for people at a very reasonable and affordable cost.

Interview

Arjit Soni, Founder and CEO