At just ₹2 an hour, Mumbaikars can hire bicycles from Jagruti Nagar Metro station to their destinations, thereby reducing the carbon footprint.
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) Commissioner R.A. Rajeev and Mumbai Metro One president and CEO Abhay Kumar Mishra inaugurated the service at the Metro station on Sunday.
Mr. Rajeev and Mr. Mishra took the first bicycle rides to inaugurate the service that will be provided to commuters in collaboration with a company called MYBYK.
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The bicycles, equipped with an in-built GPS location system, will be available at ₹2 per hour and people can avail of multiple daily, weekly and monthly plans.
“It will enable us to provide a clean environment along with end-to-end solutions for public transport. Such projects can become successful only when there is supporting infrastructure. We have to build cycle tracks and remember the pedestrians before constructing roads,” said Mr. Mishra. “It is the ultimate kind of last-mile connectivity that any Metro station will aspire for.”
Mr. Rajeev said all the Metro stations in Mumbai will eventually be bike-friendly. “We will develop all the new Metro stations with multi-modal integration with share taxis, bikes including non-motorised bikes, buses and all other means of transport for parking spaces. People will have easy access to these. We have planned to increase the capacity of public transport to push the number of people utilising it. We will double the capacity of public transport,” he said.
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On the complaints about the lack of cycling tracks, Mr. Rajeev asked, when people can travel by their own vehicles even when the roads are not up to the mark, why is riding a bicycle such an issue without a dedicated bicycle track. No mass traffic transport system in the world has been successful in diverting people towards public transport without taking care of the first and last mile, he said.
Solving problems
Arjit Soni, founder of MYBYK, which was started in 2014, said the project will solve the problems commuters face when going from their homes to the station and onwards to their destination.