Shared-mobility services, which have been growing in popularity in cities across the country, are developing strategies to adapt to a post-COVID-19 world. The services are preparing for a ‘new normal’ in the way people travel.
The strategies were discussed as part of a webinar organised by the World Resources Institute on new responses to the COVID-19 lockdown on Thursday.
Yulu, an e-bike rental service, said it expects to see more people travel from work to home directly, and will accordingly go in for a new business model which allows customers to keep the bike with them for 15-90 days in order to avoid sanitation issues. “We also plan to have a feature that will allow our customers to see when the bike was last sanitised,” said Rajat Rawat, senior lead, government and corporate relations, Yulu.
Shuttl, an app-based bus aggregator service, said in order to adhere to social distancing norms, they have started numbering the seats and will be allocating them to customers in advance.
Aravind Sanka, co-founder of Rapido, a bike taxi service, said they expect to see growth in the on-demand logistics and delivery segments, given that many customers had opted for it during the lockdown.
Chand Tulal Mazumdar, head of mobility policy, India and South Asia, Uber, said that while there is a lot of talk about personal vehicles, one needs to look at sustainable mobility as well.
Vishwas Singh, vice-president, Shuttl, said many will not have the means to purchase vehicles in the aftermath of the lockdown. “We will need to figure out ways to innovate and provide services at affordable rates,” he said.
The participants also stressed that the government should not include them with other traditional transport operators while framing policies, and that technology was key in adopting new strategies.