The rent-a-cycle campaign launched on Tuesday by BMRCL received four registered users and 15 enquiries at the end of the day.
Three out of the six metro stations on Reach 1 now have a bicycle docking station where people can hire cycles. While the MG Road and Trinity Metro stations have a capacity of six bicycles each, the Ulsoor Metro station has a capacity of 10 bicycles.
“To rent a cycle, one has to register at the MG Road metro station and pay a refundable deposit of Rs 1,000. The first hour of usage is free, after that, users will be charged at Rs 10 per hour. Users will have to maintain a minimum balance of Rs 250 on their smartcard which has a lifetime validity,” said Srinivas Ramesh, director and chief operating officer, Kerberon Automations.
The company had installed Automated Public Bicycle Sharing System (ATCAG) on MG Road. “Last year, we installed three docking points at FM Cariappa War Memorial, Shankar Nag Theatre and Bible Society of India. We have 350 regular users and a capacity of nine bicycles at each point,” he said.
“We are planning to introduce special packages at a nominal amount for people who want to use the bicycle. They may end up keeping the bicycles till the end of their working day so this special package will ensure that they do not end up spending more,” Srinivas said.
The company also plans to introduce a total of nine docking stations with a total capacity of 70-100 cycles. They are planning to start online registrations within the next 10 days.