Bicycle points at all metro stations

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) will be setting up bicycle stations at all metro stations in the city. As the HMR officials said the move will encourage people to use environment-friendly non-motorized transport and help keep pollution levels in the city under check. Amidst the rising pollution levels in all the cities across the country, the move was welcomed by the people of Hyderabad. The Metro rail officials are planning to set up 400 bike stations with 10,000 bicycles in a phased manner over the next few years.

In 2016, HMR entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC) and UN-Habitat to provide last mile connectivity where it proposed the construction of 400 bike stations for the city. Out of the 400 proposed bike stations, 63 will be at Metro stations and the rest at feeder stations nearby.

HBC chairman DV Manohar said, “To begin with, bicycle stations will be set up at Miyapur, JNTU and Kukatpally Metro stations. Half a dozen feeder stations with 75 cycles will be set up in nearby localities. Another 225 bicycles, which are being procured from Germany, are in transit.”

He further explained that people can use the feeder stations near their homes and offices to rent a bicycle and drop it off at a bike station near the Metro. However, the rent has still not been decided by authorities. The HMR has also decided to launch a mobile app or smart card to facilitate payment for both Metro tickets and bicycle rent.

For protection from theft and damage, the bicycles will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology with GPS as protection. The HMR’s move is not the first in the city. Bhopal and Mysuru already have the bike sharing system, in Bhopal, the bike sharing system was set up under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode with 500 bicycles at 50 stations while Mysuru witnessed the launch of the project in June.