BENGALURU: Bengaluru-based scooter rental startup Bounce, which is now looking at investing in electric vehicles and revamping its inventory is selling around 1,500 of its bicycles in Bengaluru and Hyderabad at Rs 800. “The company is shifting its focus to scooter-sharing business. There was excess an inventory and we are entering the electric vehicle (EV) industry. We realised that bicycles are good for short trips only. So we are shutting that option, though it is still active on the app,” a Bounce spokesperson said.
This apart, around 500 fuel-run scooters are also being sold.
Bounce co-founder Vivekananda Hallekere took to Twitter, saying: “I think you can make anything go viral on WhatsApp by posting it in family groups. We started selling a few used scooters and now the message has reached its own interpretation as to if we are shutting down. Again, when it comes to PR there is nothing called as bad news (sic).”
With the pandemic creating fear among customers on the cleanliness of rental bikes, the company has taken measures by applying a disinfectant coating on its vehicles. “The coating will last for over three months. There is a health card pasted on the scooter which shows the last time the vehicle was sanitised,” the spokesperson said.The company recently collaborated with the Bengaluru City Police in disinfecting the personnel’ vehicles with an anti-microbial solution.