Passionate about bicycling but do not know how to go about it? If the plans of a Hyderabad-based start-up Smartbike Mobility is anything to go by, there will soon be bike stations in a number of cities, where one can hire a ride.

The start-up, which has already set up seven bike stations in Hyderabad, has won a tender to set up 50 stations in New Delhi and has inked pact with several city municipalities to set up bike stations, which include Amaravati, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, among others.

The concept was put together by the father son-duo, DV Manohar, Chairman of Shri Shakti group and his son, Dharmin Dantamsetti.

The fact that most cities are crowded and there are no exclusive tracks, has not deterred these cycling enthusiasts. They plan to invest about ₹100 crore in expansion, this year, including setting up of an assembly line for this high-end Germany-imported bikes.

Smartbike has teamed up with Nextbike, a German cycle rental company with operations over 150 countries.

Sebastian Schlebusch, Director International Business Development, Nextbike who had a stint at JNU in Delhi under an exchange programme, says, “It is wonderful to be part of these passionate people who want to promote cycling.”

Manohar and Dharmin have to their credit bicycling experience in the London-Paris stretch and Vijay Bhaskar Sangem, Chief Manager at Hyderabad Cycling Club, has to his credit Srinagar to Kanyakumari solo cycle ride.

Promoting cycling

Smart Bike and Hyderabad Bicycling Club have been permitted by Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited to set up and operate public bike stations on both sides of the new metro stations and also some feeder stations.

“Soon, we plan to set up 50 stations in Delhi and deploy about 500 cycles in the phase one of the project, which we won through a tender. We are in the process of pursuing similar such tenders coming up in other cities. Significantly, all the proposed smart cities will provide a big opportunity for us to play a role,” Manohar, told BusinessLine .

All the bike stations have a fully-automated docking system that allows users to take or return bikes. The smartbikes are fitted with board computers and GPS connectivity. A rider can pick up one from the stations and return it. One has to register either online or use an app on a smart phone and pay a deposit of ₹500 and make payments as per usage.

comment COMMENT NOW