You can soon pick up bicycles for short-distance rides

BENGALURU: In less than three months, Bengalureans will get an opportunity to use public bicycles in about 350 places in the city. With the new government in place, the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are set to roll out the muchawaited “Public Bicycle Sharing System”, which is already up and running in Mysuru, where it is known as “Trin Trin” project.

In the 2017-18 budget, the state had announced a bicycle rental/sharing scheme (PBS) in select clusters. The responsibility to identify potential demand for bicycles was given to DULT. The city is likely to get over 5,000 bicycles during the first rollout. Under the first phase, the DULT identified 354 docking stations in the central parts (such as MG Road, Cubbon Park, Cunningham Road, Seshadri Road and JC Road), Banaswadi, HRBR Layout, Koramangala and HSR Layout. The authorities have listed eight operators, who will provide a minimum of 500 bicycles.

DULT officials said the docking stations will be located close to each other (from 250 metres to 500 metres), enabling people to use the bicycle for short commutes. The first phase will cover an area of 25 square km, which includes seven metro stations, three traffic transit management centres (BMTC bus stands) and 77 parks.


While the authorities have not invested money in buying the bicycles, the DULT and the BBMP will jointly fund the creation of bicycle-friendly infrastructure. Operators are allowed to collect a fee from those who take bicycles on rent but the final discussion on this is yet to take place.

The Draft Master Plan 2031 for Bengaluru had estimated that the population would double and vehicular trips would triple by 2031. For the success of mass transit systems such as metro and suburban rail, last-mile connectivity is critical and the DULT believes providing bicycles is one such option which will encourage the use of public transport.

“We have identified places where the operators can keep bicycles. They are free to provide bicycles in other places too but they have to identify docking stations. We had initially planned to buy bicycles but the operators were willing to provide bicycles at their cost. We will use the fund of Rs 80 crore, which was provided in the state budget, to create infrastructure,” a DULT official said.

Satya Shankaran, a civic activist, urged the authorities to quickly implement the project, which has been delayed due to elections. Shankaran, who won the title “Bicycle Mayor” recently from Amsterdam-based NGO ByCS, said Pune and Coimbatore have rolled out similar projects while Bengaluru was lagging behind.