THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A motorbike of choice will be available on rent to ride to the famous tourists spots in the city. The bikes will be waiting for you outside the railway station in Thampanoor, near Technopark, at prominent hotels in the city and on the outskirts such as Kovalam. All one needs to do is to register and pay for the rent online to Royal Brothers, a pioneer in self-ride bike rental platform, that launched its service in the city on Tuesday.
The company already has registered a fleet of 30 bikes that include Royal Enfield (Classic, 350, Thunderbird 350, Himalayan), Avenger, Activa etc. Twenty more bikes will be added soon. The bikes are registered under the ‘Rent a Motor Cycle scheme’ and the number plates have yellow alphanumeric characters in black background.
“We are the first to get the permit under the scheme. The fleet size will be increased steadily. We also plan to introduce super bikes such as Harley Davidson, Triumph, Benelli etc,” said CEO of Royal Brothers, Manjunath T N. Honda Activa scooter is available on rent for Rs 25 an hour while Bullet 350 is available for Rs 50 an hour. The rate increases during weekends. The company has set its office at Bakery Junction.
Apart from Thiruvananthapuram, the Bengaluru based company which is present in 26 cities in 10 states has launched the service in Alapuzha and Kochi. In Alapuzha there are 15 bikes and Kochi has 25 bikes available for rent.
The service will be extended to Wayanad, Munnar, Kozhikode.
To get bikes one needs to register with the company’s website, upload driving license and identity card. Once the registration is approved by the customer care centre in Bengaluru the user can pay rents as per the tariff mentioned in the website.
Rental is based on the type of bike and duration. One can choose the location for pick up and drop. The bikes have enough safety features including tracking, immobilising etc in case of theft.
The company offers roadside assistance. It has networked with bike service units in states where it operates. “Our service is aimed at promoting tourism.
There are many who want to take a ride to places while on tour,” said Manjunath. Kerala operations will be handled by Vinay Sankar, an architect student of College of Engineering Trivandrum.
He is a team member of ClubMoto and coordinator of Kerala chapter of Himalayan Tribe, a rider community of Royal Enfield. The company plans to expand the network by inviting franchises.