Bicycle sharing company parks 250 cycles in CBD

BENGALURU: Commuters struggling with last-mile connectivity issues and short distance commute woes can now heave a sigh of relief with bicycle sharing service Yulu having launched its services here on Friday at MG Road Metro Station. The company will provide 250 bicycles which will be parked at 19 stations of Yulu and the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) in the Central Business District (CBD). Yulu will charge Rs 10 for the first 30 minutes and Rs 10 for every subsequent 30 minute interval.

Indiranagar, SP Road, Baiyappanahalli and Halasuru metro stations already have Yulu bicycles. Yulu co-founder Amit Gupta, speaking at the launch said, “We have been operating in Outer Ring Road, Whitefield, Koramangala, but in MG Road we were never formally present. We have partnered with DULT who have given us parking spaces in the Central Business District. After today we hopefully will see a lot of cyclists on TenderSURE Roads which was built for pedestrians and bicycles. TenderSURE roads has dedicated lanes for bicycles but people don’t know because nobody has been riding on them.”

“Church Street, Brigade Road and other areas where bicycle lanes are present will hopefully see a lot of bicycle enthusiasts. The extreme left of the road is dedicated for bicycles. TenderSure Roads follow international standards and are good for bicycles. Anyway people across the city have been using our bicycles on other roads as well whether there’s a TenderSURE Road or not. CBD is a very busy area and we hope that more people will use the Metro and public transport if we provide bicycle connectivity,” Gupta added.

The bicycles will be added based on the demand and 250 more bicycles will be made available in a week. The parking stations where the cycles will be available include MG Road Metro Station, Cubbon Park, Trinity Circle, along with 16 DULT parking locations. The locations are mentioned on the Yulu app which can be downloaded from Google Playstore.

By the end of February, Yulu will be launching electric scooters too in Indiranagar and MG Road metro stations which will cost Rs 30- Rs 40 for half-an-hour.

Cycle tracks in Central Business District:

Residency Road – From Bishop Cotton Boys’ School to Ashirwadam Circle; considered one of the well-done cycle tracks in the city
Cubbon Road - Stretch from Manipal Towers has been constructed only for one way traffic and is not wide enough for two-way cycles
Cycle tracks should be wide enough for two-way traffic, at least three metres, continuous and at a different level than the main road