Uber wants to be your go-to commuter resource…

When you need a car, it wants to be there. And it wants to be there when you need a bike to quickly — and easily — get from one point to another!

Uber recently announced that it has acquired JUMP Bikes for a nine-figure sum!

JUMP Bikes is based in Brooklyn, New York. And it operates an on-demand, pedal-assist bicycle-sharing service.

The two companies began a partnership with each other back in January. Together, they launched a dockless bike-sharing pilot program in San Francisco. With the program, JUMP’s electric bikes (e-bikes) are available for use through Uber’s app.

Dockless bike-sharing bikes are designed to self-lock and can be parked anywhere. This is in contrast to docked bike-sharing bikes, like Citi Bikes, which need to be parked in designated stations.

Uber saw acquiring a service like JUMP Bikes as its next move because it would give users more options for how they commute in crowded cities.

With this acquisition, Uber users won’t just have the option to call a car to pick them up. They’ll also have the option to locate a nearby e-bike to use if they want to go somewhere quickly and without having to deal with heavy traffic.

Users will also be able to grab a bike if they want to go somewhere that’s only a little too far to walk to.

JUMP founder and CEO Ryan Rzepecki said, “Through our collaboration, we realized that we shared Uber’s vision of multi-modal mobility and had the same goal of decreasing car ownership.”

So far, the pilot program in San Francisco has been successful. And it’s proven that a partnership between the two companies would be beneficial.

On average, each of the 250 bikes available through the pilot program is used up to four trips per day. That’s about 1,000 trips a day. Just imagine adding more bikes to the mix…

Uber’s Reducing the Competition

For Uber, this acquisition makes the most sense. It’s a step in the right direction if the company wants to reduce the competition from other emerging bike-sharing companies and from scooter-sharing companies like Bird.

It marks the beginning of these programs becoming more prevalent as a way for people to travel in cities.

If a person can borrow a bike or scooter to save money or avoid heavy traffic when traveling shorter distances, it could mean a decrease in people using Uber’s ride-hailing service.

And Uber doesn’t want to see a decrease in its business. So, acquiring some type of bike-sharing program makes a lot of sense.

Dockless bike-sharing first took off in China. Between 2013 and 2017, there were more bike-sharing rides recorded in China than there were ride-sharing rides in the U.S. within the same period.

The market is just taking off and has the potential to be huge, especially now that more countries are working harder to reduce pollution.

According to Wired, investors are “hot on bike-sharing” since Chinese bike-sharing companies started to boom.

And that could mean a huge opportunity for Uber to expand its business internationally and compete with other companies like Ola.

Ola is currently testing its own bike-sharing service. But Uber’s acquisition of JUMP could put it ahead of the international competition.

JUMP Bikes was founded by Ryan Rzepecki, and he’s been working in the bike-sharing realm for 10 years. He’s also been dedicated to selling bikes to clients in 40 markets.

He has the experience needed to lead Uber into this new business venture.

JUMP Bikes was founded in 2010 as Social Bicycles. It was also the originator of the self-locking dockless bike.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had this to say:

We’re committed to bringing together multiple modes of transportation within the Uber app—so that you can choose the fastest or most affordable way to get where you’re going, where that’s in an Uber, on a bike, on the subway, or more.

Uber has gained a lot from its acquisition of JUMP Bikes. It’s gained Ryan Rzepecki, who has 10 years of experience in the bike-sharing space. And it’s gained JUMP’s innovative e-bike design. The acquisition also gives Uber the opportunity to become a multimodal service that caters to a wider range of customers.

This could be exactly what Uber needs to really take it to new levels of profit.

Until next time,

Jennifer Clark
Pro Trader Today