NKDA's public cycle sharing scheme a huge hit among riders

Kolkata: The Public cycle sharing scheme introduced by the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) is considered to be one-of-its-kind in India and has yielded desirable results.

The scheme which was introduced in December 2017 was given a formal shape when Zoomcar India Private Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the NKDA at the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit held in January this year. To make people aware of the scheme, senior officials of the NKDA including its Chairman Debashis Sen rode bicycles on January 26 on the graded path which started from the New Town Business Club to create awareness among people.

Statistics shows that daily, around 2,500 rides are taking place and an average ride length is 40 minutes. Senior NKDA officials have expressed satisfaction over the success of the scheme. As there is graded cycle path in New Town, the users feel safe and it has been constructed maintaining international standards where smoothness has been the first criteria.

The users are hiring cycles and visiting their destinations and after returning, they are depositing the cycles at the collection centres. There are 81 parking points from where the riders can start or terminate their journey.

There are 300 smart bicycles at present and their numbers will be increased depending on the popularity of the scheme.

The cycles have tubeless tyres which ensure trouble-free journey. They are fitted with GPS tracking system and anti-theft mechanism and QRCODE-based access system. There is smartphone Paytm payment system too.

The NKDA had held series of meetings before formally launching the system. The Public Sharing Bicycle Scheme is very popular in Western countries but everywhere there are graded paths for cycles. It may be mentioned that recently Belgium, where cycle usage is very high, has constructed a graded highway only for cycles. The graded path will be expanded depending on the popularity of the scheme. As the cycles that are used for hiring are comfortable with proper maintenance, there are no complaints from the users regarding the quality of the cycles.