The Real Reason Behind Ford's Move Into Bike-Sharing
A Chariot shuttle bus and a Ford GoBike in San Francisco last week. Image source: Ford Motor Company.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) surprised investors with a pair of "mobility"-related announcements last week. It said it's buying Chariot, a crowdsourced shuttle-bus service, and that it will create a Ford-branded urban bike-sharing program in conjunction with bike-sharing leader Motivate.
If you've been listening to Ford CEO Mark Fields' recent statements around the Blue Oval's interest in "personal mobility," the purchase of Chariot makes some sense. But many investors were left scratching their heads over the bike-sharing thing. What does Ford, of all companies, want with bicycles?
It turns out the bikes have a lot to do with the shuttle buses. Read on.
How the bikes fit in with the shuttles
Jim Hackett is the CEO of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, a subsidiary created to "design, build, grow and invest in emerging mobility services." The LLC is a big part of Fields' plan to expand Ford's business into transportation services beyond traditional vehicle ownership. It's the entity that is buying Chariot and launching the bike service.
Hackett explained the significance of the bike-sharing service in a presentation to investors on Wednesday. But first, we need to understand what Chariot is about. Chariot is a shuttle-bus service that currently operates in and around San Francisco. Its buses run on routes that are crowdsourced, via requests made by rides using Chariot's smartphone app. Ford's vision for Chariot is that it will be expanded to many other cities as a lower-cost alternative to ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.
So, here's the thing: The more information Chariot has about desired routes, the more efficient it can be. That's where the bikes come in. Here's what Hackett said:
Here's the key slide from Hackett's presentation that ties the bike-sharing to the shuttle service.
Image source: Ford Motor Company.
Long story short: The bike-sharing program is how Ford will sniff out potential new routes for its new shuttle-bus service.
Is this going to make any money for Ford?
Here's what Fields said on Wednesday about Ford's long-term targets for operating profit margins (emphasis added):
And here's what Hackett said a little while later about Chariot (again, emphasis added):
Long story short: Ford expects this new venture to be quite profitable. We'll know more as Ford's plans for Chariot unfold.
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John Rosevear owns shares of Ford. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ford. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.