By now you’ve probably heard about peer-to-peer carsharing; but what about the same concept for bikes?
The State of Oregon passed a law back in June (HB 3149) that makes it easier for private citizens to rent/share their cars with others. The law goes into effect in January and companies like Getaround Inc. are already testing out the service in the low-car hotbed of Portland.
If car-sharing can work in Portland, it seems like bikes are a natural next step. At least that’s the hope of Will Dennis, the man who has just launched “Spinlister.”
According to Dennis, Spinlister is a “peer to peer bike rental marketplace” that “lets anyone who owns a bike rent it out to make cash and meet awesome people.” Below is a graphic that helps explain how it works…
Spinlister isn’t ready for a full launch just yet because there aren’t enough bikes listed in enough zip codes to make it work. Dennis emailed BikePortland hoping to remedy that: “We’d love to become an important part of the Portland bike community. We really see it as another great way for people to form community around cycling.”
It will be interesting to see if this takes off. A big reason people don’t own cars is they’re very expensive to buy and maintain. The same isn’t true with bikes. However, maybe this service finds a niche in high-performance bikes. Personally, I’d love to do a bit of mountain biking but I don’t currently own one. Maybe with Spinlister I could rent one for a weekend adventure?
Learn more about Spinlister via an FAQ on their website, or check out their Facebook page.