PedalMe Crowdfund

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Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
OK - here's my theory.

The original founders (including Sargent and Knowles - who are named as founders of PedalMe on the Wiki page) had an idea and founded the company Bike Taxi Ltd on 1 Feb 2017 Their names are on the Bike Taxi registration.

On reflection, and maybe on advice from a hipster with a stupid haircut specialising in web marketing, they decided to trade under the name of PedalMe as Bike Taxi wasn't cool enough. But they had already registered the company as Bike Taxi Ltd. No worries, they just used PedalMe as a trading name/service name.

This is reflected in their terms and conditions https://pedalme.co.uk/terms/ where they say: 'Pedal Me' is a service operated by Bike Taxi Limited, and the fact that Bike Taxi Ltd have registered "PedalMe" as a trademark UK00003329814. PedalMe is the name of the service, not the company.

Meanwhile, some other people, noting what was going on, founded the company Pedal Me Ltd, on 8 Jun 2017. Quite what their motivation was I don't know. Maybe they were hoping to take advantage of the fact that PedalMe was only a trading name and hoped to squat on the company name. Or perhaps they were associates of the Bike Taxi people and registered it in order to protect the name. Or possibly they had independently come up with PedalMe as a name for a company, and didn't know about the Bike Taxi people using it. I don't know. They never traded or did anything. Company accounts were always zero assets, zero income.

Eventually the founders of Pedal Me Ltd decided that, whatever their motivation was, they were wasting time submitting returns and keeping a non-trading company registered. So they dissolved it.

I could be totally wrong there, but it's a theory. I don't think that the PedalMe Ltd company that has been dissolved had any real relevance to the organisation running the PedalMe app and website.

https://www.tide.co/blog/business-tips/company-name-vs-trading-name-whats-the-difference/
 
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OK - here's my theory.

The original founders (including Sargent and Knowles - who are named as founders of PedalMe on the Wiki page) had an idea and founded the company Bike Taxi Ltd on 1 Feb 2017 Their names are on the Bike Taxi registration.

On reflection, and maybe on advice from a hipster with a stupid haircut specialising in web marketing, they decided to trade under the name of PedalMe as Bike Taxi wasn't cool enough. But they had already registered the company as Bike Taxi Ltd. No worries, they just used PedalMe as a trading name/service name.

This is reflected in their terms and conditions https://pedalme.co.uk/terms/ where they say: 'Pedal Me' is a service operated by Bike Taxi Limited, and the fact that Bike Taxi Ltd have registered "PedalMe" as a trademark UK00003329814. PedalMe is the name of the service, not the company.
Whatever the reasons where the trademark will have gave them the upperhand if there ever was an issue with the company using the same name. Think they steps away from Bike Taxi for the same reasons.(a other trademark that could lead to a ''you copied us claim'' with trademarks an ''extreme likelyness'' is enough)
Meanwhile, some other people, noting what was going on, founded the company Pedal Me Ltd, on 8 Jun 2017. Quite what their motivation was I don't know. Maybe they were hoping to take advantage of the fact that PedalMe was only a trading name and hoped to squat on the company name. Or perhaps they were associates of the Bike Taxi people and registered it in order to protect the name. Or possibly they had independently come up with PedalMe as a name for a company, and didn't know about the Bike Taxi people using it. I don't know. They never traded or did anything. Company accounts were always zero assets, zero income.
I think it's a little bit different if you look at their structure primarily under ''come ride with us'' you see a base salary and commision structure so the most likely reason for founding an company with that name is that they where or where intending to start riding for them.(Bike taxi/pedalme)
However depending on employees, turnover etc. and ltd. company isn't nessacerly the best choice.
Eventually the founders of Pedal Me Ltd decided that, whatever their motivation was, they were wasting time submitting returns and keeping a non-trading company registered. So they dissolved it.

I could be totally wrong there, but it's a theory. I don't think that the PedalMe Ltd company that has been dissolved had any real relevance to the organisation running the PedalMe app and website.

https://www.tide.co/blog/business-tips/company-name-vs-trading-name-whats-the-difference/
Either they stopped or never drove for them or the income they made from it meant it was better to claim as self-employed rather than from an ltd company.
 

Jameshow

Veteran
According to the FOI, their quoted rate was cheaper than others. The quoted rate may not have covered their cost and most start-up do it to gain a profile. Ocado ran for years without making a profit and no dividends. And it is also not in Lambeth Council interest to see if Pedalme is covering their cost.

Just look at the picture. A large truck with 2 staff would have done the job faster. I use to live next to Lambeth, there is hardly any traffic that will impede a large truck doing distribution.

Its no surprise that an FOI was raised as it does not make sense.
View attachment 590595

Ideal way of deliveries from pharmacies.
Builders merchant perhaps not!!
 
OP
OP
Boopop

Boopop

Guru
Ideal way of deliveries from pharmacies.
Builders merchant perhaps not!!

It's obvious that cargo bikes cannot cover every job in many businesses. Similarly, it's pretty obvious that there's plenty of jobs that even builders can use cargo bikes for. That's why Conway use them in London.

Remember, it's never about transitioning all journeys to bikes, it's always about transitioning where possible to bikes.


View: https://twitter.com/RKWinvisibleman/status/1308339103755370498
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Just an aside but I was in Antwerp for work a couple of years ago. Walking through the back streets early in the morning to get to the office I noticed lots of electric cargo bikes going about their business. I think I happened to be walking through a bit of Antwerp that had a lot of warehouses, so I was seeing the morning deliveries going out and as it's not a huge city this would make a cargo bike quite sensible.
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
And... they've gone bust.

Screenshot_20240203-105144_Yahoo Mail.jpg
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Pedalme was dissolved in August 2022, Bike Taxi have only just filed saying that their accounts and company details are correct and up to date.
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
Email arrived this morning.

Screenshot_20240203-133849_Yahoo Mail.jpg


FWIW I only put in some beer money as a pure punt and didn't expect to see any of it again.
 
OP
OP
Boopop

Boopop

Guru
Disappointing, but no regrets. It was always a punt, but urban centres need fewer vans and more cargo bikes and I stand by that vision.
 
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