Boris bikes in NYC

When I went to London, I was surprised to see personal public transportation so readily available for the urban dwellers. It was the first time I ever heard of Boris bike (apologies if I misspelled it) and I was facsinated by the idea.

Citibank Bike station being
deployed next to Pace University

Today I saw Citibank desploy a station of "Boris" bikes next to my college and when I talked to the promoter, she said that the organization was installing over 300 stations all over the five boroughs. They also said that the process should take a couple weeks from today to finish and most of the stations would be put around the Financial District.

First thing i thought then was the price and amazingly it had the exact same pricing as in London! 0-30min i free and 1-2 hours is around 4 dollars.

Launched on 30 of July, 2010 by Mayor of that time, Boris Johnson. Barclays Cycle Hire deployed over 5000 bikes and over 300 docking stations all around London. The scheme invested over 25 million pounds (more than $40 million) and up to today is a great success.

I guess that from now on my foot will be resting a little more and my wallet will rest more in peace.

20+ spaces at this City Hall Station

Raising price? Why not service?

"The point is that if you do charge extra, then you also have to make sure that the charge is easy to digest."
-Frei & Morriss (Uncommon Service)-

Quick Recap

Some may think adding price to an added value is a fair trade off . Well sometimes its not like that. In any business field where customers are price-sensitive, a small raise in price -even by a dollar- may cause clients to flock from your business to another. But there is a way to hit both birds with a stone, maybe three.

Fedex initially added value to their brand by allowing customers to call in and track their package. This of course was expensive for the company to maintain a call service department and often times it was tedious for both parties due to communication obstacles. Fedex then took the idea of improving service while lowering cost by allowing their customers to track their package online.

Note here that Fedex didn't raise price, they just cut it. If they had raised it then there might be a chance they lose clients, but instead improved the service and kept the price steady. It inst guaranteed that they would earn more customers, but one thing is certain, Fedex customers felt comfortable with the company and that surely increased their loyalty. Though customers should all be treated equally, loyal customers is worth by far more than a regular client.

About the book

The book may be quite monotone sometimes, but it shows clear points that no service manager should avoid. Its affordable and doesn't take much time to speed read.

P.D. I have learned that sometimes cutting expenses on what you think what is good for customers is not always bad and the other way around.

ENJOY THE REST OF THE EVENING!!!

:)