225 bicylces, 25 docking stations in first phase; Over 300 download mobile app on Day 1Badnore launches bike-sharing project

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 10

In what is anticipated to enhance the cycling culture in the City Beautiful, the first phase of public bike-sharing project kicked off today.

To begin with, 225 bicycles, including over 100 pedal-assisted e-bikes, have been made available with 25 docking stations. Residents may pick and drop bicycles at docking stations set up at Rock Garden, High Court, Sukhna Lake, PGI, Sector 17, Sector 22, Sector 34, Sector 35 and Sector 43.

“By April 2021, we will add 1,250 cycles with an increased number of docking stations. We have a target of completing the project of making 5,000 bicycle/e-bikes available at 617 docking stations by April 2022,” said NP Sharma, General Manager, Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL).

Sharma said the number of visitors, who opted for the service, is yet to be assessed, but he expressed satisfaction over the fact that around 300-400 downloaded smart bike mobile application. “There may be some teething-troubles. Users may report them on the application and we will fix it,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore launched the first phase of the project from the Rock Garden docking station.

The Governor laid emphasis on making the project successful and reducing CO2 footprint of the city. He took a ride on the bike, along with other officials, from Rock Garden to the Punjab Raj Bhawan.

KK Yadav, MC Commissioner and CSCL CEO, said: “The size of the project will make it India’s largest and densest public bike sharing network. All bicycles come with GPS-enabled locking arrangement and will be monitored from a control centre with 24X7 helpline facility.”

This project is being implemented and operated by Smart Bike Tech Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, for 10 years on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

The users will be able to take bicycle on rent for Rs10 for half an hour and Rs5 for members for half an hour. By paying Rs500 in a year, one can become a member. The membership will start in seven to 10 days.

The Commissioner said the users would be able to take the bicycles by downloading and registering through mobile app, ‘Smart Bike’.

He said docking stations had been provided keeping in view the first and last mile connectivity to users by bicycles.

He said as Chandigarh was participating in India’s Cycle4Change Challenge, an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs, to inspire and support the cities in implementing cycling- friendly initiatives, the launch public bikes enhances the prospects of winning. The cycles have feature such as display of distance travel, calories burnt, anti-theft and others.

Cycle enthusiasts hail the move

“The project did not work well in cities such as Delhi and Bangaluru due to lack of quality cycles. But the project is a boost for Chandigarh as it already has about 198-km cycle track. Authorities here should encourage people and patronage the project and people should support it,” said cycling enthusiast and promoter Rahul Bedi, a resident of Sector 8

“It will draw a good response from people. Residents here are cycle lovers and even those coming from other places will prefer to pedal due to a large network of docking stations,” MC Councillor and cycling freak Maheshinder Singh Sidhu.

“It is a good initiative. We should inspire to take to cycling to reduce the increasing traffic. Post-Covid, people can be seen riding cycles in droves. It will be boost for the project provided it is operated run well,” Gurjusjit Singh, a Mullanpur resident.