Bike Sharing Market

Market Overview

The global bike sharing market size was valued at USD 3,017 million in 2021. It is expected to reach USD 9,967 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.2% during the forecast period (2022-2030).

Bike sharing is a shared transportation service in which individuals are given access to electric or conventional bikes for short periods for a fee or free. Users can pick up bicycles and return at various docked or dockless stations across the city. In contrast to dock-less bike sharing, which does not require a docking station and allows bikes to be stored inside designated bike racks or on the sidewalk, docks are special bike racks that lock the bike and only allow it to be released by computer control. Both locals and visitors may get around cities quickly, affordably, and effectively with the help of bike sharing.

These services are a creative response to the issues with urban mobility and a successful strategy to encourage urban cycling and a more ecologically friendly form of transportation. The increased venture capital investments in bike-sharing programs are crucial elements influencing the market's expansion. Additionally, growing government initiatives for the construction of bike-sharing infrastructure, technological developments in the bike-sharing system, and an increase in bike theft and vandalism all significantly impact the market.

Market Dynamics

Global Bike Sharing Market Drivers

Increased Venture Capital and Strategic Investment Combine with the Inclusion of E-Bikes

The critical reason influencing the expansion of ride-hailing and ride-sharing services is the massive increase in regular office commuters' preference for carpool and bike pool services. The availability of more services from the top competitors on the market, such as Uber and Ola, as well as the choice of convenient pick-up and drop-off locations, is pushing customers to use ride-hailing and ride-sharing services. Additionally, the expansion of the bike-sharing industry is fueled by the massive increase in ride-hailing and ride-sharing services, such as bike sharing and auto sharing services, even for short-distance travel.

In addition, ride-sharing service providers provide advantages compared to traditional transportation service providers, including more convenient doorstep pick-up and drop-off prices, co-passenger information, and affordable doorstep pick-up and drop-off. It is forecasted that this will increase demand for ride-sharing services. To lower the costs of everyday commuters, many service providers also give a variety of amenities, incentives, and discounts, such as a monthly pass on shared transportation. Due to their quick & flexible operations and low carbon emissions, the demand for e-bikes is rising worldwide.

Additionally, the expansion of bike sharing is aided by the growing customer preference for using electric bikes as an economical and environmentally beneficial mode of transportation. In addition, an e-bike is a superior choice since, compared to a pedal-powered bike, it better satisfies the need for increased speed in short-distance commuting. Additionally, governments worldwide are implementing several measures to encourage e-bikes. For instance, the majority of governments around the world want to switch from gasoline to electric automobiles to address environmental challenges. To compete in the rising bike sharing market, some bike-sharing companies have begun to focus on developing their fleet of e-bikes.

Global Bike Sharing Market Restraints

High Cost of Initial Investment

Each company often introduces a sizable number of shared bikes into cities to get more market share during the early stages of market introduction. Additionally, substantial subsidies are provided to customers as incentives to obtain a competitive edge, such as free trips, rebates, and lottery tickets.

Additionally, a significant amount of money was needed to set up the necessary infrastructure, such as parking spaces for free-floating bikes, a network of docked bike stations, recharging docks for e-bikes, and others. For instance, electric bikes need facilities at bicycle docks for battery charging or swapping. Therefore, it is projected that the market growth will be hampered by the high initial setup costs for bike-sharing services.

Global Bike Sharing Market Opportunities

Technological Advancements

Service providers invest heavily in technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT) to deliver dependable performance to commuters. The development of a dockless bike sharing system has also been made possible by incorporating GPS technology, consumer-ready mobile payments, and lower investment costs for bike locking and monitoring systems. Additionally, including cutting-edge technologies like IoT and GPS trackers on bikes helps service providers find them in any location, reducing the likelihood of theft problems.

For instance, the e-scooter service Zypp was introduced by the bike-sharing business Mobycy in 2019. IoT (internet of things) devices that enable smart unlocking are installed on the scooters. Additionally, creating user-friendly smartphone applications improves its usefulness for users and operators. As a result, the bike sharing market will continue growing thanks to technological advancements.

Regional Analysis

The region-wise segmentation of the global bike sharing market includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

The Asia Pacific and Europe will dominate the regional market

The Asia Pacific is forecasted to command the regional market while expanding at a CAGR of 13.1%. Due to users' quick uptake of the bike-sharing service in nations like Vietnam, India, China, and Singapore, demand for the service has been rising quickly throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, the entry of new companies into the market with creative ideas like dockless bikes would support the expansion of the bike sharing market in the Asia Pacific throughout the forecast period. For instance, Southeast Asia's GrabCycle bike-sharing program was introduced in March 2018 by the ride-hailing company Grab.

Chinese commuters' increasing preference for shared bikes is the main element behind the market's expansion. For instance, data gathered by the bike-sharing startup Hellobike shows that in China in 2019, approximately 700 million electric bike trips and about 300 million rides on regular bikes were made daily. Another factor expected to contribute to the market expansion is the Chinese government's subsidy program for service providers, which encourages them to build stations and reach out to many commuters.

Europe is forecasted to reach USD 2,586 million, growing at a CAGR of 14.78%. The presence of several service providers in nations like Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK, who prioritize investing extensively in cutting-edge services, will cause the bike sharing market in Europe to experience significant growth. Byke, Urbo Solutions, Bleeper Bike, Cloudbike, Rekola, YoBike, Pony Bikes, and the Donkey Republic are just a few regional and startup bike-sharing companies operating in Europe. The expansion of the bike sharing business in the region is also being fueled by an increase in partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures between supplier authorities and bike share operators to encourage sharing mobility services throughout Europe.

For instance, top European bike share providers and operators Donkey Republic, Mobike, Moventia, Nextbike, PBSC, Ride on, Smoove, and Jump by Uber formed an Expert Group in July 2019 to foster cooperation and promote the bike-sharing sector in European cities. The organization is a Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) member, which operates in more than 300 European towns and handled 63 million trips in 2018. Another main factor propelling the growth of the bike sharing market in the UK is the rising demand for bike share services for commuting combined with the increasing number of cycling excursions. In 2019, for instance, bike-sharing services for commuting climbed by 42%, according to the UK Bike Share Survey 2019. Furthermore, the industry is expanding due to factors including the rising popularity of e-bike sharing and the service providers' creative marketing strategies.

Segmental Analysis

The global bike sharing market is analyzed across the bike type, sharing system, and region.

Per the bike type, the fragments are traditional/convectional bikes and e-bikes.

The traditional/conventional bike section is projected to have the highest revenue holding, expanding at a CAGR of 12.7%. Bicycles that are pedal-driven by a human being or, in some situations, propelled by a gasoline engine are referred to as traditional or conventional. Conventional bikes are always ready to ride because they don't need to be charged like electric bikes. Traditional and conventional bikes cost less to share than e-bikes. Conventional/convectional bikes need less upkeep and repair than electric bikes. This element will accelerate the transition from e-bikes to connectional bikes in bike-sharing programs. The proliferation of conventional/traditional bikes in the bike-sharing industry is also fueled by the prohibition of electric bikes in various cities worldwide due to several safety-related issues with e-bikes.

The e-bike section will hold the second-largest share. The main distinction between e-bikes and conventional bicycles is the addition of an electric motor that helps the bike go ahead. Depending on usage habits, the rechargeable battery found in most E-bikes can last up to 20 hours. The main elements driving the uptake of electric bike sharing are growing environmental and health concerns, increasing transportation congestion, and rising fuel prices. Furthermore, shared e-bikes are becoming more popular among consumers due to features like quick and flexible operations and economical and environmentally beneficial transportation options. E-bike sharing is also becoming more popular due to the rise in market participants who offer the service and the rising investments in R&D activities.

Per the sharing system, the fragments are docked and dockless.

The docked section is projected to have the most significant revenue holding and grow at a CAGR of 15.6%. Users of the docked bike sharing system must begin their trip by borrowing a bike from the docks or stations and returning their borrowed bike to the same ports or stations where they started. All bikes in this system have an electronic locking mechanism that operates on GPS and wireless communications, typically smartphones. The adoption of docked bike sharing is predicted to be driven by the increase in docking stations due to bike theft and vandalism during the forecast period. Additionally, because the bike is docked at a specific station, the user is no longer in charge of the bicycle once the journey is over, limiting user liability and the need to provide adequate security, which also increases docked bike sharing among commuters.

The dockless section will have the second-largest share. Dockless bike sharing programs allow users to check out bicycles and return them anywhere within a given geographic area. With dockless systems, bicycles can be left at a bike rack or on the sidewalk inside a designated district. The development of consumer-ready mobile payments, IoT, and GPS technology, as well as the falling cost of locking and tracking systems for bikes, have contributed to the development of dockless electric bike-sharing goods. The feature to pick up and drop off bikes anywhere there is a legal public parking space makes dockless bike sharing even more convenient for users and simplifies access to public transportation.

Recent Developments

• In 2022, Anywheel plans to deploy its bicycles in Ang Mo Kio, Pasir Ris, Punggol, and Tampines before the end of the year. The company has increased the locations it serves after receiving permission from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to double the number of shared bicycles in its fleet to 30,000.