If you have a spare bike standing around collecting dust, why not rent it out, be a part of a shared economy and have a positive impact on the environment? This is the vision of Donkey Republic, who just launched a kickstarter campaign to initiate their concept of AirBnb for bicycles.
“We bring together the simplicity of Uber, the sharing economy of AirBnb and the benefits of a bicycle.” Says Alexander Høst Frederiksen, co-founder of Donkey Republic.
The concept is called AirDonkey and consists of a lock and an app that will make it easy for bike owners to rent out their spare bikes to tourists. Donkey Republic is based in Copenhagen and was founded in 2014 by Erdem Ovacik, Alexander Høst Frederiksen, Simon Søndergaard and Jens Frandsen. Since its founding, the company has released over 150 of their own rental bicycles on the streets of Copenhagen.
MAKING BYCYCLES MORE ACCECIBLE
Donkey Republic already has over 500 paying users and more than 10 000 registered trips on their own rental bicycles. By applying the AirBnb model to the traditional bicycle, Donkey Republic hopes to make bikes more accessible to people who want to experience the city.
To achieve this goal, Donkey Republic has set up a kickstarter campaign with an initial goal of 250 000 DKK (34 000 euro), which they hope to reach before November 28.
“Wouldn’t it be amazing that no matter where you go in the world, there is always a bike waiting for you? The idea for AirDonkey grew from a dream of a world where commuters, tourists and also people just enjoying the city, choose the bike before the car.” Says Erdem Ovacik, co-founder and CEO of Donkey Republic.
With the Kickstarter campaign, Donkey Republic hopes to improve the software of Airdonkey and gear up their production, to expand the concept to the rest of the world.
