Hyderabad: Rental bikes here, there & everywhere

Hyderabad: The latest addition to the traffic woes has come in the form of the ubiquitous presence of rental scooters that are parked at several junctions across the city, thanks to the ever raising rental bike companies in the city.

The scooter sharing service allows users to pick up a scooter from anywhere and drop it at any location. Their technology-enabled solution aims to offer low-cost transportation that can help covering short distances in the fastest time possible. The average cost per km is around Rs 6. Presently, there are three players in the market: Vogo, Bounce and Tazzobikes.

MS Vijay Kumar, DCP (Traffic), said, "Many college-going students are seen triple riding, without helmets and jumping signals. Many also abandon the vehicles wherever they please. As a result, these vehicles are being subjected to theft. People hire bikes from these startups have been complaining about having no helmets with the bikes."

The police said that this is now resulting in a lot of traffic congestion and causing inconvenience to pedestrians. Many vehicles are left on the main roads at Somajiguda, Mehdipatnam, Malakpet, Gachibowli, Hi-Tec City and other IT corridors.

Hassled citizens are taking to twitter to vent their anger. Comrade (@itzbharats) tweeted, "@CYBTRAFFIC pls raise a challan for this @bounceshare vehicle leftover by an unknown person. Location: biodiversity signal such situations are happening across cyb limits causing a lot of inconvenience to the public passing by."

Sahiti, a commuter who regularly travels from Paradise to Bowenpally said, "It is very difficult for us to stand here for the bus as many Bounce and Vogo bikes are parked at the bus stop."

Many times, these vehicles are towed away and kept in police stations. Users are locating them even inside the premises and coming to the police station and taking them from our custody, the official said.

The officials have also asked the companies to switch off the 'Global Positioning System' of the vehicle once they are seized, till the pending traffic challans are cleared. They have also suggested the companies to partner or tie-up with government organizations or private firms and create their own parking places.

On the condition of anonymity, a Bounce executive said, "There are two types of technology – Key and Keyless technologies are available. This issue is mostly reported on the keyless bikes as the rider has to just enter the QR code on the keypad present in the bike. Once the user is done with his ride he can wind up his ride by using 'end trip' option on the bike, after which the bike will be locked and will become available for the next user. The user will be charged for the time and distance he used."

The traffic violations are caused due to the keyless vehicles. As the users need not to return the key, they leave the vehicle after they reach their destination. But in other technology, riders have to return key along with the bike at the mentioned shop.

But, people question how minors are able to get the bikes for riding. Do the companies check the credentials before handing over bikes to minors?

On the other hand, the organisers say that though helmets are provided along with the vehicle, riders are not using. Some people are stealing them, they said. For the violations, police are charging challans from the companies.

Ease of commuting

• There are three bike rental companies in the city and a few more are on the anvil

• One can pick up a scooter by entering the QR code after making a payment online

• For certain companies, one needs to pick up the key to the scooter from a store nearby

• For keyless scooters, licence is not being asked by companies

Since there is no designated area to park these vehicles, users are parking them randomly at junctions and leaving them. We asked the rental companies to make necessary arrangements for parking

– MS Vijay Kumar, DCP (Traffic)

How it operates

A rider has to just enter the QR code on the keypad present in the bike. Once the user is done with his ride, he can wind up his ride by using 'end trip' option on the bike, after which the bike will be locked and will become available for the next user. The user will be charged for the time and distance he used