Thousands of Amsterdam students have a Swapfiets. But is it really such a good deal?
Many students have a Swapfiets, but the company behind the rental bikes is struggling with strikingly long waiting times. This is despite fast service being their core promise. Bike broken? According to UvA students, you’ll be waiting a week for a replacement.
Anyone taking a quick look at the bikes in the Roeterseiland campus bicycle garage will immediately spot the familiar blue Swapfiets tyres. An estimated 9,000 to 9,500 Amsterdam students have a subscription. With the student discount, you pay €18.90 per month for an Original Swapfiets — meaning you spend almost €227 a year. The Deluxe model and the two different versions of the e-bikes the company rents out are even more expensive. Nevertheless, many UvA students still see it as a good deal. When something goes wrong with their bike, such as a flat tyre or a broken chain, the company promises a quick solution.
According to a spokesperson, the number of students renting a Swapfiets in Amsterdam – not broken down into education level – is estimated to be below 9,000 to 9,500. That estimate is based on the number of student subscriptions, although no student information is requested when signing up. While staff in the Swapfiets shop are supposed to ask for a student ID or proof of enrolment, this does not always happen.
On its website, Swapfiets states that “bike and e-bike repairs, maintenance and battery swaps are free and included in your subscription.” This means you never have to repair your bike yourself – the Amsterdam Swapfiets team does it for you in one of their four shops. If they cannot fix the bike within ten minutes, you receive a replacement. In the Swapfiets app, you choose a store location and a time slot to book an appointment.
Broken gears
Still, Swapfiets doesn’t always seem able to deliver on its promise of fast service, several UvA students tell us. Master’s student Pien Plooij (23) is one of them. “Two months ago, the gears on my Swapfiets broke. The earliest available appointment was a week later. That appointment was then cancelled the day before, because there were no bikes in stock. It took a few more days before I could go to a Swapfiets shop nearby again.” Same story there: she couldn’t exchange her bike. In an attempt to fix it, a staff member adjusted something on the wheel – without success. “The next day I tried my luck at the Swapfiets shop on Bilderdijkstraat. After some resistance from the staff, because I didn’t have an appointment, it eventually worked: I got a replacement bike.”
Pien’s relief was short-lived, as this bike also had defects; the rear light turned out to be broken. In the Swapfiets app she chose the Roeterseiland branch this time – the other shops had no availability in the short term. Even then, Pien was unable to swap her bike. “In the end, staff managed to fix the rear light on the spot, resulting in a long queue of impatient customers.”
Not in stock
UvA students also experience long waiting times when they need a new Swapfiets for other reasons. This was the case for Emma Peters (21), whose Swapfiets was taken to the bicycle depot by the municipality after it had been parked incorrectly. “I immediately booked an appointment for a new bike, but it was cancelled three times. After two and a half weeks without a bike, I finally succeeded.” According to the municipality, the organisation that owns the impounded bike – in this case Swapfiets – must collect it itself. For the Swapfiets customer, this comes with a price tag of forty euros, instead of the 25 euros charged when collecting the bike yourself. On its website, the company highlights as an ‘additional benefit’ of this policy that you can ‘pick up another bike straight away’. In practice, that benefit is far from guaranteed.
Another UvA student, Emma Fontan (22), also encountered long waiting times when she wanted to exchange her e-bike, which she could no longer afford, for a regular Swapfiets. In the Amsterdam Swapfiets shops, that model would not be back in stock for another two weeks. So she opted for a Deluxe Swapfiets – an upgrade of the regular bike – which she could collect immediately. “That model was cheaper than the e-bike, but still four euros more per month than the bike she actually wanted.”
Underestimated
In one of the Amsterdam Swapfiets shops, a staff member says that there has indeed been a shortage of bikes recently, particularly e-bikes. According to him, this was because the parent company had underestimated the number of bikes needed. That problem has now supposedly been resolved.
Yet the website paints a different picture. Anyone who wants to take out a Swapfiets subscription in Amsterdam and is shorter than 1.80 metres will have to be patient. “Due to high demand, several sizes are only available in limited quantities,” appears after entering various hypothetical heights. Or: “This size is currently sold out due to high demand.” The stock problems therefore still do not seem to be resolved.
Swapfiets response
Folia asked Swapfiets for a response. A spokesperson confirmed that the company has been experiencing stock issues since the beginning of this year. “We operate with a circular model: existing bikes are repaired and swapped rather than newly purchased. Due to a nationwide shortage of bicycle mechanics, especially in Amsterdam, we weren’t able to repair enough bikes in time. The shortage began in August, and in September things went off the rails, because during the introduction weeks Swapfiets normally delivers five to six times as many bikes. The repair teams simply couldn’t handle that peak. As a result, new customers ended up on a waiting list of four to five weeks.”
To close the stock gap, Swapfiets brought in additional bikes from other countries, such as Germany, where they are used less in winter. The company is also trying to find new bike mechanics by working with third parties and by being an attractive employer.
According to the spokesperson, the regular city bike in size M – for people shorter than 1.80 metres – is still sold out. As an alternative, students can opt for the more expensive Deluxe city bike, of which there are still plenty available. As long as the service stock remains tight, new customers will not be able to take out a Swapfiets subscription. The company wants to serve its existing customers first.
