Time for cycle sharing starts-up in India

Cycling in and around Goa is it a possibility? The response  i got was overwhelming. Most of the city dwellers went the extra mile to dwell on the benefits of cycling and the cycling groups they have joined. The village folks on the other hand, said cycling on Goan roads with the increase surge is traffic is  not an advisable thing.

Further, my friends from the coastal belt, who have been into cycle renting business bemoaned the fact that the trade  is no longer a lucrative every since renting of two wheeler bikes has caught  on the fancy of local and international tourists.

I had two days to kill in Amsterdam, and what better way than to pick up a cycle and off you go. I cycled along parks, street markets, taking in the sights. Riding lazily; not because I wanted to, but it had been years since I had cycled. This is late in the afternoon. Anyway, not long after, I was exhausted. So I stopped to get something to eat. Leaving the cycle resting against a wall. And while I was picking up food, and I am sure it was a burger, I noticed this group of four kids. Before I could realise it, one of them just darted towards the cycle, picked it and off he went. I ran after him but Jesus, I was slow and tired and just couldn’t catch up. I remember walking that day till my thighs hurt.

The kid literally just picked up my cycle and left. Me running behind him, arms flailing htat was three years back. Peter my local guide said that around 50 percent cycles are stolen or never returned.

He went to say that on account of parking fees for cars people in the city preferred cycles and two of them – one for long drives and the other for city travel.

But the cycle concept is yet to take off in Indian cities and towns.

It’s time to explore into the world of cycle-sharing startups in India and how to retrieve the lost bicycles which is the biggest headache of the trade.

Clients aren’t returning cycles they are supposed to. So cycle-sharing start-ups in India like Yulu have they got a future in India and more specifically in Goa.

That is the reason Yulu have a team of "bike screeners" whose job is a combination of retrieving, cleaning, and maintaining the rides. Yulu also has a contract with a security firm they call upon when getting a cycle back is "difficult,” and the company files police complaints hoping to "deter repeat behaviour." Yulu isn’t alone. 

Yulu's vision is to reduce traffic congestion by providing a scalable, affordable, efficient and clean solution for the first mile, last mile, and short distance commute. We strongly believe that short commute mode can be made more Efficient, Affordable and Green, thereby ensuring that future generations will have a healthy environment to live. We want to replace big personal vehicles with a smaller form factor that does not require fossil fuel.

They are using IoT technology to create a vast network of shared dockless bicycles that can be rented easily by a user-friendly app in pay per use business model. We are a mission-driven company based out of India with a solid founding team and big ambitions. At Yulu we believe that every day is a mission and success is exciting when its attained with fun and as a team. If you want to solve the problem of traffic congestion, reduce pollution, positively impact the society, let's have a conversation to partner in our journey to shape a new India for our future generations

India is a strange country for any regular cycling endeavour, but cycle sharing startups, both Indian and Chinese, are making a go for it. All of them believe that outside of China, India is the largest market, on the cusp of exploding. And whoever gets this market first has a several billion dollar+ opportunity. The Chinese market is just a few years old but is expected to reach $3.8 billion by 2019. What’s not to like? We could be here in no time. Rolling in money.

But what works in China will not work in India or successful concept of cycle-sharing in Europe is not feasible for Indian conditions if we explore the cultural and practical aspect of cycling. Like, where does one even begin with our kind of infrastructure?