PMC’s cycle sharing scheme left orphaned under road dept

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) launched its public bicycle sharing scheme in 2007. Three years later the bicycle sharing scheme is all but defunct, with neither bicycles on the road, nor the civic body’s department overseeing the scheme functional.

Initially, when the scheme received an enthusiastic response, PMC started a special bicycle department to execute, plan and coordinate between the four bicycle providers in the city.

In 2018, the PMC assigned superintended engineer Narendra Salunke to oversee the bicycle scheme. Salunke retired in January 2020, and no official has been named as his replacement.

In 2017, PMC prepared its comprehensive bicycle plan and launched its bicycle sharing programme in the city. Pune Smart City Development Company Limited (PSCDCL) started a cycle-share scheme in the University of Pune on December 5, 2017.

After that, the PMC launched several schemes in different parts of the city.

According to statistics provided by PMC officials, MOBIKE, Zooomcar and Yulu, all Bengaluru-based companies, provided a total of 5,800 bicycles on rentals for the share scheme.

The firms later pulled out and Yulu is the only firm to have continued in major residential areas like Magarpatta.

Srinwas Bonala, additional city engineer, Traffic planning department, said, “Right now, China based MOBIKE has withdrawn from the scheme. Zoomcar is not operational and Yulu is providing rental service in big societies like Magarpatta. They conveyed to the PMC about their withdrawal. Now, the department has handed the scheme over to the Road department.”

V G Kulkarni, chief superintendent of the Road department, said, “There is no officer who has been given charge of the bicycle sharing scheme. Earlier, the scheme was handled by the traffic planning department.”

Ranjit Gadgil of Parisar, an NGO and a member of the Bicycle Advisory committee of PMC’s comprehensive bicycle plan and non-motorised transport, said, “At present, only Yulu is providing rental cycle service in closed areas like big societies.

He further added, “PMC should start a bicycle scheme as there is considerable awareness among the public. We should rectify the problems. The Central government is ready to provide funds. But, there is a lack of enthusiasm in PMC. There is no dedicated department for this scheme. Therefore, the scheme is not working at present.”

Cycling infrastructure scenario

According to The Energy and Resource Institute’s (Teri) report, “Pedaling towards a Greener India”, - a report on promoting cycling in the country, few cities in the country have constructed/planned cycle tracks. Only Pune and Chandigarh have a wider city-level network of cycle tracks. These networks, however, have problems related to bad design, maintenance, encroachment, lighting, and enforcement.

Public Bicycle Sharing scheme (PBS)

Cyclists can use a mobile application to unlock and ride the cycles from different locations in the city. The user checks out a bicycle from one location, rides to his or her destination and parks it at a nearby destination. The operator coordinates the redistribution of bicycles.