Meet Oonee
Welcome to the Oonee blog!
Welcome to the Oonee blog. We’ll use this space to discuss our vision, expansion plans, new features and thoughts about the micromobility landscape.
Our mission is simple: To create the future of urban bicycle and scooter infrastructure. We want to help fulfill the promise of micromobility by creating more adaptable, smarter, streetscape hardware.
For our first post, we’d like to discuss the rise in micromobility across the United States, and discuss the Oonee philosophy and experience.
Micromobility
Daily cycle usage in New York City is increasing at the rate of 11.2% per year. This increase in cycling is happening across the United States as cities implement their own shared bike systems and startups test innovative new dockless bike systems. Using data from the American Community Survey, the League of American Bicyclists computed the change in bicycle commuting for Portland, Washington DC, and Minneapolis between 2006 and 2017. Portland registered a 53% increase, Washington DC a 149% increase, and Minneapolis a 56% increase in bicycle commuting during that period. Add the increased use of both personal e-scooters and shared e-scooters to the uptick in bicycle usage and it’s safe to assume that micromobility alternatives are transforming cities.
Nonetheless, many problems stand in the way of greater micromobility adoption. A 2014 McGill study titled Breaking into bicycle theft: Insights from Montreal, Canada reports that over 50% of cyclists it surveyed were victim of bike theft during their lifetimes. If worrying about theft wasn’t enough, riders are also concerned about vandalism and maintenance issues. What happens when you get a flat tire on the way to work? What about leaving your scooter outside while you run into a store to run a quick errand? Or maybe it’s the simple inconvenience of having to walk up three flights of stairs to your apartment every day that’s discouraging you from riding as much as you’d like.
Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) companies like Bird and Lime also worry about where to store their dockless fleets or how to protect their bikes and scooters from theft, vandalism and the effects of urban wear. Cities are concerned about dockless scooters or bikes littering their sidewalks. The friction caused by these two parties diminishes the potential of these bold mobility initiatives; you can’t use what’s not working or what can’t be found.
That’s why we made Oonee.
Meet Oonee
Oonee is many things for many people. For riders, Oonee is currently secure parking. It will soon deliver bicycle services to its users by partnering with local bike shops. For property owners and city agencies, Oonee is a needed micromobility solution that provides public amenities. Our revenue share model creates an added revenue stream for organizations and allows us to charge users less than $5 a month to use the pods. We also take care of the setup and upkeep of the pods, meaning that they don’t burden property owners or city agencies.
Our pods are modular, with smaller models holding 20 bikes and 7 scooters. Their modular components make them easily modifiable, enabling us to create pods with different parking capacities based on the environment they’re deployed in.
Our pods take less than a day to setup, providing organizations the ability to test different locations to see where the pods are most effective. Did we mention that the pods are illuminated at night? That provides users the comfort of knowing that they can safely retrieve their bikes and scooters at any hour. This gentle ambient light also creates a more welcoming environment for those patronizing the surrounding public space.
We’re excited to bring Oonee to urban environments around the world. For additional information, please visit our website at www.ooneepod.com. We encourage all questions and look forward to launching in Downtown Manhattan this fall!
How To Oonee
- Sign up for Oonee by clicking this link.
- Find the closest Oonee location.
- Bring your own lock.
- Unlock the pod.
- Lock your bike or scooter.
- Repeat (and rest easy!)
