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EMBARQ India The World Resources Institute www.embarqindia.org
Existing Bicycle Sharing in Indore
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Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................... 3
Shop Locations ....................................................................................................... 4 Shops at Residential Areas ............................................................................................................................. 4 Shops at Transport Terminals ...................................................................................................................... 4
Findings from the Preliminary Survey ..................................................................... 5 Availability: ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 Timings: .................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Tariff: ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Financial Model: .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Manpower Requirement: ................................................................................................................................ 6 Summary ............................................................................................................... 7
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Introduction Indore is one of the fastest growing cities in the country and has emerged as the industrial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Despite the limited infrastructure facilities available for the cyclists on the roads, a large percentage of people use bicycles to commute to work in Indore. Bicycles constitute 20% of the total trips in the city, and many use rented bicycles. While conducting the survey, it was found that most of the renters are labourers, factory workers, hawkers, painters, masons, etc. Traders coming from small towns around Indore rent bicycles to navigate the inner city market areas. Though there are close to 2000 bicycle rental and repair shops in the city, there is no systematic setup for renting bicycles, and is limited to a closed user group at most locations. Bicycles rented at a particular location have to be returned back at the same place. Rental shops are limited to the area where the low-‐income group community exists; also some of them are found around transport terminals, like bus stands and railway stations.
Figure 1 Preliminary Bicycle Sharing Survey Location
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Shop Locations Shops at Residential Areas
Areas like Pardesipura, Patnipura, Malwa Mill, Nanda Nagar and Bhagirathpura have many bicycle rental shops. Preliminary surveys indicate that most people renting bicycles are daily labourers, factory workers, hawkers, painters, masons, etc. Vendors in this area only give the bicycles to persons they know or those who are referred by someone
they know.
Shops at Transport Terminals Apart from the market areas, cycle rental shops exist at transport terminals such as the bus stand and railway station. Once again, traders from around the city form their primary clientele. Even in these locations, shopkeepers give bicycles only to persons known to them. A few locations, however, allow customers to rent a bicycle by depositing their original identity card or by depositing a refundable amount of Rs. 1500 to Rs. 2000 against the bicycle. Customers do not have the facility to return/drop-‐off the bicycle at a location different from where they rent.
Figure 2 Shop at Patnipuri
Figure 3 Cycle Shop Near Bus Stand
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Findings from the Preliminary Survey In the context of AICTSL being interested in undertaking a bicycle-‐sharing programme under its umbrella, EMBARQ India has conducted a preliminary survey of about 15 vendors at various locations in the city (Figure – 1) to understand the functioning, requirements, revenue model, etc. The following sections present the findings from this study.
Availability From the interviews, it is estimated that about 2000 bicycle rental and repair shops exist in the city with primary concentration at the market locations and transport terminals. On an average, 60 bicycles are available on rent at each location. Interviews with the vendors have revealed that about three to four times in a month, the demand for rentals exceeds the bicycles they have for rent.
Timings Bicycle rental stores in the city usually open at 7:00am in the morning and close by 9:00pm. Most of the customers take bicycles in the morning before 9:00am, which is indicative of the fact that the peak of bicycle activity is different from that for the motor vehicles. Most of the vendors/operators have been in this business for more than 20 years and also undertake repair and maintanence activities to suppliment their income from bicycle rentals.
Tariff Almost all the vendors offer bicycles for rent on hourly, daily and monthly basis. However, most of the cyclists rent the bicycles on a daily basis. The tariff on rental of new and old bicycles is usually different. A cycle once bought is considered new for at least 6 months. The typical rental tariff structure is shown in table – 1
Table – 1: Fare Structure Time Period Old Cycle New Cycle Hourly 2 3 12 Hrs 10 15 24 Hrs 15 20 Monthly 450 600
Financial Model The bicycle shops are split evenly among those operated from rented premises and those that are owned. In case of rented premises, the average amount paid monthly is about Rs. 1,500. The vendors own all the bicycles that they offer for
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sharing. The cost of a new bicycle is about Rs. 3,500. On an average, a single bicycle offered for sharing generates revenue of Rs. 235 per month. Apart from rentals, these stores also undertake repair and maintenance of bicycles which result in a revenue of about Rs. 3,000 per month, which if averaged over the bicycles will be about Rs. 50 per bicycle per month. The vendors incur an expenditure of about Rs.100 per bicycle per month for spares and maintenance of their bicycles as well as the repair work they undertake. This expenditure does not include salaries to the labour, if they employ any. Hence, as a result, net earning for the vendors is about Rs. 180 per bicycle per month.
Manpower Requirement From the preliminary sample survey, it has been observed that on an average one person is required for operating and maintaining of 30 bicycles. This implies that the current bicycle sharing mechanism results in earnings of about Rs. 5,400 per employee/vendor. A summary of this computation is presented in table – 2.
Table 2 Survey Findings Findings Estimated number of cycle rental and repair shops
2000
Average Number of Cycles per Shop 60 Average Returns on Bicycle Rental Rs 235/month/bicycle Average Revenue From Bicycle Repair: Rs 3000/month Average Expenditure Incurred By Stores: Rs. 100/months Expected Revenue From The Program Rs. 180/bicycle/months Minimum Labour Requirement: 1 person for every 30
bicycles
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Summary Based on the study, the planned bicycle-‐sharing programme presents the following opportunities and major challenges. Strong Points
• Bicycles offer very low cost flexible travel option compared to other modes for short distance travel.
• Environmentally friendly transport, promotes good health, and low recurring costs. • Promotes democratic utilisation of road space.
Opportunities • The existing sharing facilities are all tuned/focused towards low-‐income
groups, thus leaving out a large part of the society. Thus the bicycle-‐sharing programme mooted by AICTSL will not be competing with the existing system for customers.
• The current system does not allow for customers to drop-‐off bicycles at a different location from the one where they rent. This is a unique feature that AICTSL can incorporate, thus creating demand for the program for recreational and miscellaneous purposes of the middle and higher income groups.
• The bicycle sharing centres located strategically with wide coverage can serve as a feeder to the BRT, thus increasing the accessibility to the system.
• New housing complexes and high rise building coming up can make bicycle sharing programs part of their development.
Major Challenges • Providing adequate infrastructure for comfortable travel experience of
the bicycle users is a major challenge, which lies outside the outside the scope of AICTSL. Hence, it becomes important for AICTSL to champion this cause and co-‐ordinate with political and administrative heads of the city.
• Security of the bicycles rented to unknown clientele is a challenge. Requiring membership of some sort or a deposit for renting will significantly reduce demand and also prevent spontaneous choice making.
• Stolen bicycles are very difficult to locate and support from police is very limited.
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• The bicycle has to be designed to limit the number of parts that can be
stolen/replaced by inferior parts by the customers. • The demand for bicycles will vary significantly by the season, with least
demand during the monsoons. Hence, the financial model for the program should account for this condition.
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