The humble bicycle, which has been edged out by cars and other vehicles on Mysuru’s roads over the last few decades is all set to make a comeback.
Trin Trin, the country’s first smartcard-based public bicycle sharing (PBS) initiative will be launched in the City of Palaces on Sunday.
With broad tree-lined roads, steady tourism and smartphone-savvy citizens, Mysuru scored over other cities when Karnataka’s Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) looked for a candidate for the bike venture.
About 450 bicycles will be available, reviving memories of a Mysuru that had neighbourhood bicycle rental shops. But unlike those, Trin Trin offers commuters, for a fee, the convenience of picking up a bicycle from one of 48 docking stations across the city and dropping it off at another. After a month-long trial in December 2016, Trin Trin is all set for a formal launch.
Renting is free for the first one hour and users have to pay ₹5 for up to two hours, ₹10 up to three hours and so on. Of the 450 bikes, 30 geared ones are for those pedalling up to Chamundi Hills, a distance of seven km from the docking station at the foothills.
Bike sharing offers the city with 8.87 lakh people an alternative as it grapples with 8.15 lakh vehicles. The Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Plan prepared by DULT for Mysuru had projected that the traffic woes would worsen if, along with public transport, walking and cycling were not promoted.
“Mysuru is a heritage city with good ambience and a strategy to promote cycling was necessary to ensure that the city continues to be liveable and exudes the same timeless charm,” said Murali Krishna, nodal officer from DULT for implementing the project. An opinion survey conducted about four years ago indicated that an overwhelmingly large number of people in the city were ready to use cycles. PBS, in its present form, does not envisage exclusive bicycle lanes at least for the next two years.
The cost of the project, partly funded by World Bank’s Global Environmental Facility, for the next six years is ₹20.5 crore, covering the maintenance of the docking stations and bicycles. One of the key objectives of the project is to encourage local commuters as well as visitors — Mysuru receives more than 20 lakh tourists annually, including 5 lakh from foreign countries — to use bicycles as a preferred mode of travel.
To rent a bicycle, the citizens of Mysuru or tourists need to register themselves either online or by visiting one of the six registration centres situated close to tourism centres and obtain a smart card after paying ₹350, including a refundable deposit of ₹250.
At the docking stations, which are largely unmanned, but monitored by CCTV cameras, the commuter should place the smart card on the reader next to the bicycle, which facilitates its release from the dock. While returning, the commuter should slide the bicycle clip into an empty dock before placing the smart card on the reader to lock the bicycle.
Though the bicycles are equipped with a basket and a bell, the absence of a helmet and a rearview mirror was sorely felt during the trials. The authorities will be holding talks with Green Wheel Ride, a Mysuru-based enterprise to which the operations of the project are outsourced, to equip the cycles with a helmet and rearview mirror.
