BENGALURU: Within a week or two, four private bicycle sharing operators will receive permits from the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT). The department called for tenders inviting expression of interest in January, 2018, under phase-1 of the Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) system , costing Rs 80 crore.
“Around 11 operators expressed interest earlier this year. Of these, the first four to have completed the due procedures are Pedl, Mobycy, Yulu and Lejonet. They will receive the official permit from us soon,” says Darpan Jain, DULT commissioner
“Of these, Yulu and PEDL have completed the documentation process and will get the permit in one week. As and when the others submit the required documents, they will receive permits too,” he adds.
While the two companies, already function within the city in different areas, the permit is expected to make the system more efficient, in addition to making the operators accountable to DULT. One of the conditions stated in the official permit includes 'bicycles shall not be parked in a manner that would hinder the visibility of motorists at junctions, or obstruct movement of pedestrians, shops and other road users.'
“The cycles should be in good condition, with all safety features and anti-theft technology in place. They must be equipped with a front light that emits white light while the bicycle is in motion, illuminates the path in front of the bicyclist from a distance of 90 metres and has a red reflector on the rear end, visible from a distance of 150 metres,” an excerpt of the permit reads.
Amit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Yulu, says, “We pay a nominal fee of `50 per cycle, per year to DULT. The permit includes maintaining service-level agreement (SLA). There are no set r strictions on the number of cycles per docking station. We will deploy them as per the area. This permit gives us a framework and makes the system organised, as we have now designated parking locations for users to pick up and drop the cycles.”
“There are certain areas, such as Outer Ring Road, Whitefield and Old Madras Road, which do not fall under the phase-1 of PBS, but we have our cycles operating there already. DULT engineers
surveyed these locations and helped us designate parking spots in a way that won’t
affect movement of people or other vehicles.
We will tag these locations ourselves, but follow the permit rules,” Amit adds.Special officer at DULT, Murali Krishna, says, “There are two other operators on the waitlist who will be submitting documents by October end. We have not placed any restrictions on the number of cycles, as this is the first time this is being implemented here. After six months to a year, when patronage has picked up, we will consider having a set number on cycles in an area.”
Under phase-1, cycles will be made available across MG Road, VidhanaSoudha, Indiranagar, Koramangala, HSR Layout, Banaswadi, HRBR Layout and HBR Layout. DULT will implement bicycle parking spots in over 345 locations.