Hyderabad Bicycling Club and Smartbike Mobility Pvt Ltd on Tuesday announced the launch of public bike sharing system, for first and last mile connectivity at Metro Stations in Hyderabad.
Smartbike Mobility Pvt Ltd (Smartbike), through a joint venture with Nextbike GmbH, Germany, will operate Public Bike Sharing (PBS) system on both sides of the new stations along the Hyderabad Metro Rail.
It has set up bike stations at Miyapur, JNTU, KPHB and Kukatpally metro stations and feeder bike stations at Miyapur Junction, JNTU Main Gate and Cyber Towers, as well.
The company said in a statement that it currently has 75 smartbikes in the city and plans to add another 225 bikes in a few weeks. It commenced operations with seven bike stations in the city and plans to add 23 more stations in the next few weeks and eventually plan to have around 300 bike stations in the next three years.
The first set of bikes were imported. However, to cut down on the customs duty, an assembling unit for smartbikes is being set up in Hyderabad.
The company also plans to set up an assembling plant in Delhi to cater to the needs of Delhi, Chandigarh and Jaipur. He said they will be investing around Rs 100 crore for these plans in the next financial year.
People can register online to become members by paying Rs 500 deposit. For members, the ride for up to 30 minutes is free while for non-members this will cost Rs 10. The charges for 30 minutes to one hour will be Rs 10 for members and Rs 25 for non-members. Members can also opt for weekly or monthly passes.
After waiting for more than six years, the much-awaited Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) was finally inaugurated in November last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao amidst much fanfare.
The PM flagged off the 30 km-long first phase of the metro rail project at Miyapur. The corridor between Miyapur and Nagole was thrown open to the public on November 29.
IANS inputs