Customer case
Swapfiets – Guaranteed a working bike!
Want to take out a bike subscription? No problem! For a fixed monthly fee, anyone in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Delft, Eindhoven, Groningen, Leiden, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Enschede, Tilburg and Utrecht can take out a mobility contract with Swapfiets. We guarantee that a good bike that works properly will always be available. If repairs are required, a new bike will be ready for you within 12 hours. This involves logistical challenges, such as delivering large quantities in a relatively short period of time.
Swapfiets started out as a start-up by three friends, which became a rapid success. All current and former students are aware of the perils of a broken or stolen bike, which is often the preferred mode of transport to get from one side of town to the other. Swapfiets guarantee that students can always access a good bike that works properly. In the event of repairs and theft, for example, a replacement bike will be provided within 12 hours.
Swapfiets purchased 12,000 new bikes at the beginning of 2022. But how do you then get that bulk of bikes to all those Dutch student cities? Swapfiets’ collaboration with Pon Logistics emerged from their own limited storage capacity in town centers and the necessary logistical challenges. Click here for a short video.
Collaboration with Pon Logistics
It is convenient for Swapfiets to outsource the storage and distribution of both the bike and parts with one professional party, where Swapfiets also benefits from the existing agreements with transporters such as Parts Express for parts distribution and Rotra for bike distribution.
Pon Logistics is responsible for receiving, storing and issuing the bikes. To this end, an area has been cleared at the unloading site in Leusden as temporary storage for the bikes. The first bikes were delivered to the unloading site in mid-July 2019. Depending on the number of trailers, this number was 170 to 340 bikes on a daily basis. Since the bikes are delivered for storage anyway, the unloading site immediately arranges a check-up. Each bike undergoes a check-up there, which is a 10 minutes process.
New bike ready in 12 hours
Tires, rims, pedals, lights, stand: these are all bike parts that regularly need replacing. As part of Swapfiets’ service, they offer students a new or repaired bike available within 12 hours. In order to be able to guarantee service, Swapfiets needs to have the correct parts to hand quickly.
For this reason, parts are now stored at the Pon Logistics warehouse in Veenendaal. Initially, parcels will be delivered containing parts that are needed most frequently. In the next phase, we will switch to item-based delivery. The storage and distribution model will also be adjusted accordingly so that Swapfiets can fulfill its 12-hour promise. If you see someone riding a bike with a blue front tire, then you’ll know it’s a Swapfiets! For more information about Swapfiets, visit swapfiets.co.uk.
We are happy to make room for new customers.
Interested? Feel free to contact us without any obligation.