City gears up for cycle sharing project

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Bhubaneswar: Cycles for the public bicycle sharing (PBS) project have started arriving in the city Thursday.
Easy to book, low charges and zero pollution are the three USPs of the city-wide PBS project, which would be launched soon, said sources.
The PBS would have 1,000 cycles from Hexi Bikes and 500 each from Yaana and Yulu.
The PBS would provide a healthy, green alternative for city residents as well as visitors.
The PBS cycles are low-frame ones which would enable women wearing sarees to use them in a hassle-free manner. The adjustable seats will make the bikes easy to use for all age groups.
Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) awarded the PBS tender to Hexi Bikes, Yaana and Yulu Bikes.
The bicycles will be robust and will offer smooth riding on city roads. They will be digitally mapped using Global Positioning System (GPS), and can be accessed using a mobile app.
Anuj Malhotra, the PBS expert with BSCL said, “Generally cities make the mistake of providing bike stations only at major centres. However, Bhubaneswar will have a dense network of bike stations. The important thing is to connect ‘sources’ and ‘destinations’. Therefore, all residential areas and main roads will have bike stations so that people can start and get back on bicycles.”
The PBS mobile app will have provisions for online payment depending on usage.
The Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), an SPV to manage urban transport in and around the city, and BSCL are also establishing bike stations across the city. They will be integrated with bus queue shelters (BQS) to provide common infrastructure as per the multi-operator model.
All PBS deployments will be completed before the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup-2018. The docking stations for cycles would cover all the areas including heritage sites and Infocity.
The bicycles will also have smart locks which can be opened through mobile applications.
PBS users will be categorised into two types – members and non-members. Members can use the cycles for the first 30 minutes free. After 30 minutes there will be charges as per the fee structure. Users who are non-members of the PBS system will have to pay minimal charges for the first 30 minutes.