Amsterdam Bicycle Subscription Service Prepares to Go Global

Amsterdam has more bikes than people, and far more of its 860,000 residents pedal to work than take a car or public transit. But at least 80,000 bikes are stolen every year, and flats and breakdowns are common. On any given day thousands of Amsterdammers face life without their two-wheelers. Richard Burger has a solution.

Five years ago he, Martijn Obers, and Dirk de Bruijn co-founded Swapfiets in Delft, where the three were students at the University of Technology. Swapfiets—Dutch for “swap bicycles”—provides a basic bike for a monthly fee of about €16.50 ($18). That covers repairs and insures against theft. Although there are many motives for signing on, Burger says, “everything comes back to the fact that you get the advantages of a bicycle, and as soon as there are disadvantages, we will take care of them for you.”