It has been a decade since I last rode a bicycle. I stopped it the day I began to ride a scooter. So, when I heard about ofo, a cycle-sharing system introduced as a part of the Coimbatore Smart City Project, I was thrilled and decided to check it out.
Bright yellow cycles were lined up in front of the Bata showroom in RS Puram. Kids gathered around the cycles and I saw them scanning the QR code with their phones. I asked them about the mobile application and they said, “Just download ofo from the playstore, scan the QR code and enter the number appearing on the screen. It is simple.”
I waved bye to them as they rode off and attempted to download the app. “Deposit ₹99 and ride only for a limited time,” popped up a message on my screen. There are two options of payment — Debit/Credit card or Paytm. I tried paying with my debit card several times, but the transaction was declined every time, even though the authorities said all Visa, Maestro and MasterCard card were accepted. The same thing happened when I tried to make the payment with a couple of other cards from my friends (IOB, Federal Bank and Canara Bank). Those did not work either and I went home dejected. (I learnt later that the card had to be internationally accepted before I could use it. I was advised to get my cards upgraded).
The next day, I downloaded Paytm. I had better luck and I paid the refundable deposit and went to RS Puram at 8.00 am.
Unlike the previous day, there were no bicycles in sight and most of the parking areas had other vehicles parked in them. I went up and down the stretch of TV Swamy road on my scooter till I found two cycles in front of the post office. Thrilled, I took out my phone to scan the QR code. There was a pop-up. It read, “Oops! Sorry, this bike is broken and needs to be repaired. Please find another bike to ride.” I tried the other cycle (which had the saddle missing), and received the same message. I resumed my search for a cycle.
I found one in front of the Bata store. I parked my scooter, and took off my helmet but, by the time I reached the cycle, a lady beat me to it. Divya RK said she came this way every day for a walk. “On my way, if there is a cycle, I ride it. I consider it as a exercise”. She assured me that I would find another cycle and left. I also met Baburaj who works as a security guard who had used the ofo cycle. “I have to walk to work. I was happy that I could now use a cycle. There were a lot of cycles at the parking areas last week but now I find hardly any.”
I decided to move my waiting spot to Cafe Coffee Day and saw Tilak N clad in a black tee-shirt with the company name written in bright yellow. He is a crew member from the ofo cycle retrieving team. His work is to track the cycles parked in different parts of the city and bring them back to the designated area. “People are misusing the cycles. We retrieve cycles even from homes of individuals.”
Just then a truck with cycles arrived and the crew unloaded a number of yellow cycles. At last, I scanned the code, entered the numbers and took my cycle for a spin. The traffic was just picking up and I could still hear the chirping of birds. I cycled past men arranged fruits on pushcarts and children in uniforms packed inside their auto rickshaw. They waved at me as I rode along TV Swamy Road to DB road. I had been warned that motorists were reckless and did not care for the cyclists, but I found most of them slowing down and making way for me! A school bus actually slowed down to allow me to make a U turn.
On my way, I met Nick Varghese, who was also riding an ofo bicycle. “This brings back childhood memories. I work in an IT firm, and this is an easy and quick getaway from the technical world.” I rang the bell ( different from my old cycle bell), turned around and rode back to where I started. I ended the ride in the app and locked the cycle. My phone screen showed me that I had covered 996 m, saved 130 g of carbon emission and burnt 20 calories !
Info you can use
In future, rides will be charged at ₹10 for 30 minutes.
Anyone who breaches the area will get a message requesting them to park the cycle within the boundary in 12 hours. The cycle will be inaccessible to other users during this time.
They uses Geo-fencing technology to define the boundaries.
There are 2000 ofo cycles and 50 parking slotes in RS Puram
