HYDERABAD: The dockless bike rental service Bounce, that was launched in Hyderabad four months back has already lost three bikes as they were dumped in places such as gutters or due to vandalism. The dockless feature enabled by Bounce’s keyless technology lets a user pick up a Bounce bike from the nearest location and after using it, drop it off at any legal parking zone.
However, the city-users do not seem to be abiding by the rule of a ‘legal parking zone’. One bike was recently discovered in a drain near Jagathgiri Gutta. There have been many cases wherein the traffic police had to remove Bounce bikes parked at no-parking places or being dumped at various places, including one, even in the middle of a flyover. Some of the bikes also end up either being stolen, or vandalised for parts, such as their tyres.
Company officials said that the penalty amount is recovered from riders responsible for vandalism, with the help of police and CCTV footage available with them.
Speaking to Express, Ankit Acharya, a representative from Bounce said, "We have noted three such cases in Hyderabad in the last four months. However, it has not affected us as the penalty is claimed from the last rider. We are using tech on the app to trace who and where the last rider was. The Hyderabad police has been co-operative in helping us with CCTV footage as well."
"Similar incidents have been noticed in Bangalore as well, where in the last 13 months close to 10 to 12 bikes have been affected," the representative added. The bike rental service currently has close to 2,500 bikes plying in the city.
Users ignore rules
Bounce’s keyless technology lets a user pick up a bike from the nearest location and drop it off at any legal parking zone. But several city users ignore this rule and some dump them in gutters or abandon them on flyovers