As leaders of innovation and security in the bike locker industry, CEO of CycleSafe, Richard Hartger, talks about its strategic partnership with Movatic to offer electronic access to bike lockers, the most advanced solution for bike lockers on the market. Movatic-powered lockers will allow cyclists to find, unlock, rent and pay for their bike locker usage, with their smartphone. For locker owners, this means “hands off” management, i.e. no more managing keys or payments.
Read more for Hartger’s thoughts on CycleSafe and how offering Movatic access to bike lockers is concurrent with much of the innovation that is happening within the transportation industry and part of a greater active, healthy and sustainable living movement.
1). Can you tell me about CycleSafe and what it means for CycleSafe to be the leader in the bike locker industry?
Cycle Safe is the market leader for the bike locker industry due to our nearly 40 years of innovation including being the first to market with an enclosed, highly secure bicycle locker. Our lockers are manufactured to a standard that is the highest in the industry. This isn’t just a marketing statement, rather our SMC (Sheet Molding Compound or Composite) is formulated to offer extreme strength and durability. The process utilizes high pressure (over 1000 tons) and high heat to produce the walls for our lockers, which also allows for ribs and bosses thereby increasing the strength even further.
Plus, our new capability of smartphone Bluetooth electronic access, powered by Movatic, will now allow users an enhanced experience, when needing a bicycle locker. This solution is the most advanced system for electronic access for a bike locker at this point.
2). In addition to electronic access, what should everyone know about your bike lockers and the benefits they provide?
We call ourselves CycleSafe since our lockers are strong enough to withstand attempted entry with bats, clubs and crow bars. Although, no locker is theft proof, our lockers serve as a worthy deterrent to the theft of a bicycle. And we really haven’t had any bike theft logged over the thirty plus years that we’ve had lockers installed.
However, theft prevention is not the only advantage of a Cycle Safe locker. Our lockers also offer protection from the elements including rain, snow, hail and even heat. It has been proven that our lockers have a temperature that is lower than a typical steel locker, which actually acts like an oven and multiplies the external ambient heat.
This is critical since the high temperatures have a negative impact on the rubber and plastic components of a bicycle, along with affecting the performance of the various lubricants.
3). What do Movatic-powered bike lockers mean for locker owners?
For locker owners, Movatic-powered bike lockers means a “hands off” management of locker usage. No more managing keys, cash payments, lost keys or security issues relating to who actually uses the locker. With this new system, a locker owner has better visibility as to who is using a locker and the frequency of its use.
4). How about for users?
The hassle of interacting with the locker owner for access to a locker. No need to carry cash to pay for a locker. The elimination of losing a key to a locker. The ability to reserve a locker prior to arriving at its location. The ability to leave equipment with a bike secured within our lockers.
5) Is this the first time CycleSafe has offered electronic access to bike lockers?
No, our company has offered several other electronic access versions, but with the booking and billing in the Bluetooth makes the Movatic-powered lockers the most advanced system for electronic access for a bike locker in the market.
6) What has been the response so far when you introduced Movatic-powered bike lockers to customers?
In a recent conference in Vancouver, Movatic-powered lockers received many accolades. In fact, a couple of potential customers were ready to purchase a [competitor’s product, but] now prefer our lockers with the electronic access capability.
In addition, a fairly large property management company is looking at establishing a program for their leased properties that use our lockers with the electronic locking capability. So you can see there are multiple market applications.
7). How do Movatic-powered bike lockers give CycleSafe a competitive advantage/ eliminate any points for CycleSafe?
Well, being the first to market with this capability will allow for faster growth in this sector. In addition, locker sales may increase, due primarily to this capability. It is new so we can’t make any assumptions, but we see people responding intuitively that it’s a good thing moving in the right direction.
8) How has it been working with Movatic?
Movatic has been an excellent partner in developing this capability. We like to invest in entrepreneurs who have the vision and the drive to create long term market changing business. We like to invest in to build great teams and invest in entrepreneurs unbounded by convention or trend. We’re certainly on that cutting edge there with Movatic.
9) Anything else, you’d like to add?
Sure. There are four major benefits of cycling and participating in alternative transportation and those are congestion reduction, pollution reduction, active transportation for a healthier lifestyle and parking lot savings. Less cars will also mean less parking spaces, which will allow people to live in the urban center and helps to contribute to local economies. So there are a lot of benefits just beyond the equipment decision for the community. This is such an exciting time for CycleSafe and Movatic to be a part of an active, healthy and sustainable living movement.
