Brief description of the organisation/initiative
bFlex is the first green mobility-as-a-service provider in Greece with a vision to free cities like Athens of transportation pollution. In only two minutes, you can subscribe to any of the bikes and e-scooters online and have them delivered to your home. bFlex provides all the necessary repair services, so the rides with the bFlex are always safe and pleasant.
Challenge overview
Air pollution is one of the reasons for the low air quality in Athens is transportation. Recent research from LSE shows that 79% of the Athenians own a car. To contribute to the solution to this problem, bFlex provides the easiest, friendliest, and most flexible transition to green mobility.
Establishment of the organisation/initiative/enterprise
The idea to establish the organisation in the field of the shared and circular economy came from understanding the need to bring the green movement to Greece since it was, and still is not popular. bFlex was established in 2020.
Management structure and governance
bFlex is a profit organisation. The CEO and founder is Robbert van der Meer. Other members of the team are the CMO Georgia Bousia, the CTO and software engineer Dimitris Perifanis; and the product manager Christofer Salaounis.
Principles of work, objectives and activities
The main focus of bFlex is sustainability. bFlex aims to change the commuting behaviour, into a more sustainable and eco-friendly one, promoting the cycling culture as beneficial to the users, and, of course, for the environment! Moreover, bFlex also focuses on circularity within the company – bFlex does not sell bikes. Their philosophy is based on the motto ‘There are no circular products, only circular services’.
Target groups
bFlex targets people living in Greece, their community is called “flexies”. People who use bFlex are mainly environmentally conscious, understanding the importance of a circular economy, which prefer to share items, and above all, choose eco-friendly alternatives for their daily activities, such as going around the city by bike instead of using a car.
Innovation
bFlex is the first company offering green mobility-as-a-service in Greece. Even though such initiatives were already established elsewhere, such innovation was missing in Greece – and above all in a big city as Athens. This explains the success of bFlex – everyone can have a bike with great flexibility, service, and conditions without the need to purchase it.
Key partners
bFlex targets individual users. However, bFlex also provides their services B2B for the companies such as Stone Soup, Betty’s bakery, Poseidon Athens, Kingdom of Netherlands, Onassis Foundation, Suncycling Athens, Onomataki, Fay Fib, and Gregories. In addition, bFlex received sponsorships from Eurobank and Allazorevma.
Another important partner is the NGO We4all – with every new bike subscription, bFlex, together with We4All, plants a new plant in Greece.
Impact and Evaluation
In 2021, bFlex’s community prevented 20 300 kg of CO2 from being emitted. After several surveys, the team found that 80% of their users use their subscriptions for their daily commute. Moreover, 41% are using their bikes instead of their car. Needless to mention that health benefits for the bFlex users.
Recommendations
The initiative has already been adopted in other countries. One of the most important recommendations could be the right approach to the target groups. bFlex, apart from providing excellent service, has built the “flexies” community, which is an additional motivation to choose the company service – to be a part of the “green” community and contribute to the circular economy on the individual level.
Lessons Learned
It is hard work to run a company, especially when the company provides a 24-hr service. But even when the business is in the start-up phase and the future is unclear, the work and its results are very rewarding – the positive feedback from the “flexies” community, the movement of the market, and the KPIs keep motivating to work on business growth
References
Kollia, Mia (2022). Robbert van der Meer: An unconventional dreamer, 4 Feb, Impactalk.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.