KMRL’s bicycle sharing programme from today

Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) will launch its public bike (bicycle) sharing programme on Monday morning at MG Road metro rail station, making available 50 bicycles to commuters.

The bicycles will be available at all seven stations, from Maharaja’s College station to Edappally station. The initiative is being taken along with Athi’s Bicycle Club and is being sponsored by the metro agency’s Kochi-1 pre-paid smart card. The chairman of city-based think tank CPPR, Dhanu Raj, and Athi’s bicycle club founder Athirup M.S. will also be present at the launch. The KMRL had done a pilot project on public bicycle sharing concept over two years ago to gauge public enthusiasm for the initiative. The metro agency will add more cycles on all the 16 stations eventually, says a press release.

The introduction of bicycles is aimed at encouraging non-polluting modes of transport in the Greater Kochi area.

In the meantime, the installation of GPS in private buses operating in the Greater Kochi area is expected to be over by May 15, a month later than scheduled.

This will enable finalising of a journey planner benefiting commuters and traffic planners based on feedback received from bus locations.

“An integrated time table and multi-modal ticketing platform will be readied by mid June. This will be followed by the introduction of an app using which commuters can keep track of metro trains and buses, to be followed later by autorickshaws operating in the area,” metro sources said.