Country’s cleanest city shows the way with bicycle sharing system

TRIN TRIN IS THE public bike share (PBS) system of Mysuru.

That PBS takes off in Mysuru, the cultural capital of Karnataka, is perhaps natural: it is India’s cleanest city and air quality is much better than other cities in India. Early this week, Karnataka Chief Minister CM Siddaramaiah launched the PBS.

Trin Trin is a Karnataka government project, partially funded by the World Bank under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant. The project is planned and implemented by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport and Mysuru City corporation.

As in the cases of many European cities, the system works in terms of “docking stations”. The bicycles are owned and operated by the civic administration and its associates, for shared, short-term use by local residents as well as visitors, on an easy rental basis.

The user borrows a bicycle from any ‘docking station’ across the city and returns the borrowed bicycle after a ride to any ‘docking station’ closest to his destination.

The cycles are both manual as well as geared. In the near future, battery operated cycles too will make an entry into the scene. The whole system is operated by Green Wheel Ride, a Mysuru-based enterprise manufacturing eco-friendly battery-operated bicycles. The firm has been promoting the culture of cycling in Mysuru City.

At present, PBS features 52 hubs — docking stations — and 450 bicycles. The docking stations are automated. Most of them are located near major tourist destinations, like Jaganmohan Palace, Mysuru Zoo, Amba Vilas Palace, Karanji Lake, Chamundi Hills, airport, railway and bus stations, universities and large office blocks. The users have to obtain a smart card which they can swipe and take a bicycle from a docking station. When the cycle is returned, a user fee would be deducted from the smart card.

While the chief minister was all praise for the PBS, he said, after taking a ride in one of the cycles: “The initiative is very good. But the bicycles don’t appear to be comfortable for people aged over 30 years. Maybe we should keep 100 bicycles for youngsters and replace the rest with quality and comfortable cycles, so the elderly too can benefit from the system.” The cycle that the CM chose, unfortunately, had a rather small seat.

As a security measure, each bicycle is fitted with a radio frequency tag as a censor. A rent of Rs5 and Rs10 will be charged for the first one and two hours, respectively.