Srinagar, Dec 9: In days to come, Srinagar is all set to have Kashmir’s first public e-bicycle sharing system available initially at 11 docking stations situated at various places in the city.
The initiative, with the support of Srinagar Smart City, has been taken by a Srinagar-based start-up ‘Curve Electric’ which will keep nearly 50 electric bicycles available for the general public.
The trial of the same was carried out today from Dalgate to Kashmir University, and if everything goes as per the plan, the service will start fully in a few days.
Sheikh Yameen, who is the co-founder of ‘Curve Electric’ said that they have come up with the idea of having electric bicycles available for the people and are eyeing for the same to become an effective mode of commute in the city.
“The bicycles will be available on rent and will be Kashmir’s first public e-bicycle sharing system, and to avail of the services, the customers have to come to the login stations and can get the bike after the production of the necessary identity documents and a mobile number,” he said.
Yameen said that once the ride is complete, the customer can drop the bike at any docking station designated across the city. “We are planning to have a fleet of 200 bicycles with 21 stations in Srinagar, but as of now, we are starting with 50 cycles and 11 docking stations,” he said.
As of now, the docking stations are located at Dalgate, Islamia College, Elahi Bagh, Kashmir University, Botanical garden, Nishat, Bemina and Sanat Nagar.
He said that the aim which pushed the idea towards execution was, first, to cut down the carbon emission, protect the environment, and second, to generate employment.
“I have completed MBA and it is a youth-driven initiative and we thought why not become job providers instead of seekers; it has three foundations at its core, environment, employment and profitability,” he said.
Concerning the charges, he said 90 paise will be charged per minute and for the students, there will be a subscription plan which they will be coming up with soon,
“The speed of the bike is 25 km per hour and it has been built from scratch suitable for Kashmir conditions; for using the service, there is no learning curve, it is all manual on the front end and the backend is high-tech,” he said.
