When it comes to bike sharing companies in Bangalore, Yulu and Bounce are definite front runners. These Blue (Yulu) and Yellow (Bounce) bicycles can be spotted in areas across the city, and they are convenient and easy to use with the dockless stations that require just an app to pick up a bicycle from the nearest area. These bicycles can dropped off at any drop area, regardless of where they are picked up from. Yulu has both regular bicycles and battery operated scooters available for grabs. Bounce (formerly known as Ofo, started out with bicycles and now have battery operated scooters).
The last couple of years has seen a significant rise in the number of bike share companies popping up across India. With environmental consciousness on the rise, many have turned to using bicycles to commute, however, not everybody owns a bicycle. This is what has led to the increased appearance of bike share companies, across top leading metro cities in India. When we think of bike share companies and the US, Citi Bikes (based in NYC) comes to mind immediately… so, what are the popular names in the bike share space in India? Read on for more.
BANGALORE
CHENNAI
In an effort to promote environmental consciousness the Chennai Corporation and SmartBike launched a cycle-sharing system, in a public-private partnership mode. This service was launched earlier this year, in February. The initiation of this project saw bicycles at 25 locations in Anna Nagar and along Marina beach, with a plan to expand the SmartBike cycle-sharing system to 400 locations across all 15 zones of the city. Based on the popularity that the system has gathered, SmartBike is looking to expand their reach to areas across the city.
DELHI AND NCR
In Delhi, a front runner in the bike sharing space is the SmartBike powered by Nextbike. These bicycles can be found across the city and users need to subscribe to the service to be able to access the bicycles. You can get a subscription for a week/ 1 month/ 3 months or a year. Another top bike sharing company with a wide presence in the Capital city is Mobycy - a bike share concept with dockless stations and an app. Mobycy offers both bicycles and electric scooters as mobility solutions in the NCR.
MUMBAI
On its way to becoming one of the fastest growing bike sharing companies in India, Yulu has a wide presence in Mumbai as well. The system of dockless stations with bicycles and electric scooters that are accessible via an app seems to be catching on and growing popular owing to the ease of use and wide access that most people have to a smartphone.
PUNE
A city where bicycles can be seen everywhere - both personal bicycles and rented bicycles. The ‘Cycle to Work’ / ‘Cycle for Commute’ community in Pune is growing at a rapid pace. In fact, as part of the efforts by the Pune Municipal Corporation to transform transportation in the city they have in place The Pune Cycle Plan which was formed in 2016 to help make Pune a cycle-friendly city, and significant progress has been made over the past year to achieve a 300 km bicycle track in the city. Such solutions has led to a rapid ride in the number of bike sharing companies in Pune such as Yulu, Ofo, Mobike to name a few.
Conclusion
With the rising popularity of bike sharing systems, there are several players entering this space. However, one common problem faced by these companies, which leads to the company withdrawing from the system/ disabling rental options is misuse and/or theft and damage of the bicycles. Being an affordable system that is greatly beneficial to people across all walks of life, it is up to us to be responsible and appreciative of these initiatives and make good use of them - thus ensuring a solid system that strengthens and grows successfully! Keep Sharing, and Keep Cycling!
