Review: Spinlister App, Find a bike to ride, passive income?

NOTE: Spinlister has now said good bye, you can read about it here.

Me being me, always looking for opportunities, I was searching for passive income and it seemed like a good way of doing that, is renting out my bike(s).

Something that kinda gained traction a little is this little app called Spinlister. It is basically a platform similar to Uber, Airbnb, Grab. You use the app to search or list out a ride, where you decide the price of rental.

Ever since I tried this some time back in Apr 2015, there has been few and far between rentals. I did recently start collating just how much I made on rentals.. Total to date(22nd March 2018): USD$1,404 or about SGD$1,850

Not too bad, let's go through how to best start out!

1. Download app here:
    iOS
   Andriod
2. Register your account below to net you additional USD$5 credit!
   Click here for additional USD$5 credit
   Or use this promo code:
   4d56d1
3. List your bike!
   At the point, I would like to recommend you use the website to post as the iOS app I tried is a little buggy.. You have to fill in everything step by step, with chances (pural) the app will crash and lose your previously saved details on the listing or even not let you save at all.
   a. Take 4 pictures of your bike!
   b. Pricing, you can put a rough estimation first.
   c. Location, hot tip: Press the GPS symbol on the map, let it load then fill in any blanks.
4. Wait for approval!

That's it, all you have to do is wait, albeit sometimes quite a long time.

Now, you have to be warned, there are a few cons in renting out your bike.

Damages
Now, Spinlister will in fact cover you on this:

However, some of us simply love our bikes so much, even a single scratch inflicted, sears through our soul. If you are like this, there is no way you will be able to let your mind be at ease and it's best not to rent out your beloved bike.

Deliveries
Some expats or countryside folk (Ulu residents) will request deliveries and this is where you can either value add or cash in on. I have many times rode down myself, more mileage, fats as fuel, and a token fee for the added service. Why not?
Doing you have to plan in advance, the address, security concerns, if it's a hotel, here's a tip:
Get the person's full name, check-in date, duration of stay, room number and contact number if possible. You can then pass this details to the hotel concierge (if there is one) and leave it to them.

No shows
As with everything nowadays, there will be people who speak with you all week and subsequently disappear. Spinlister does actually still charge the guy though, it's just the bummer where you have to plan your schedule to accommodate them.

No hits
With all the rage with bike sharing going on, I would expect demand to go down further. So be patient and may the renter rent from you.

Paypal
Payments are by paypal and will take a few days after the actual rental is completed, if you don't have an account or patience, this might be a issue for you.

Bikeshare vs Bus/MRT vs your own bike/escooter!

So ofo bike share are having free November and December rides, prompting me to try them out.
It was such an ideal timing and I had the perfect scenario to use it, that will be another story.

Right now, what I was interested to know is that which is cheaper? Bike share or Bus/MRT/LRT?
Now logically if the distance is too near, walking is free, cycling should theoretically be cheaper then the bus or MRT. But at what point should I opt for one or the other?

Being an engineer the excel spreadsheet starts! With that a magical chart appears:

Ain't it cool? Data can be beautiful, any info-graphic designers out there wanna do something with me? Give me a buzz!

Conclusion?

Amazingly the answer depends on which bike share company you choose! 

Short distance: oBike and Mobike starts off cheaper with their 50 cents rate.

Medium distance: Mobike is the cheaper choice for longer commutes. 

Long distance: Ofo, until it hits a cap of $2.

What is even more interesting for me is when I calculated the time take on your transport mode of choice.

Time is money, isn't it?

So taking you bike on short distances is almost always going to be faster since you don't have to wait for the bus and you can drop-off the bike at your void deck!
The magical number where buses are faster is when the distance to be travel is 3km and more.

Share it! Comment! Let me know what you would like to know next!

Simpler chart to understand:


That's it! Dualcircles signing out.

tags mobike obike bikeshare.sg sgbikes ofobike gbikes