Over 200 riders, including children, senior citizens and cycling enthusiasts, participated in the inaugural ride organised as part of the launch of the first lot of 360 bicycles, part of the MYBYK Public Bike Sharing (PBS) system that will see a total of 1,000 bicycles being launched in the Greater Kochi area, here on Saturday.
A joint initiative of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KRML) and Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML), the bicycles were flagged off from the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium metro station here on Saturday by Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Managing Director of KMRL, in the presence of District Collector S. Suhas, District Police Chief (Kochi City) C.H. Nagaraju, CSML General Manager Raji R., and MYBYK founder and CEO Arjit Soni.
The event also saw the launch of the logo and jersey of KMRL’s cycling club by Mr. Suhas, followed by the launch of MYBYK app by Mr. Nagaraju.
Commuters will now be able to take a cycle on rent from a docking station available near them and travel to the nearest metro station to board the metro. They can again rent a cycle if needed, to reach their destination.
While KMRL and CSML provided the project’s funding, Ahmedabad-headquartered public bicycle sharing operator MYBYK will be in charge of operation and maintenance of the cycles that will be berthed at 60 terminals, located approximately 500 metres away from each other. At present, the 35 hubs where the cycles would be berthed included 21 metro stations (from Aluva to Pettah) and prominent places in Panampilly Nagar, M.G. Road and Cochin University of Science and Technology, said official sources.