DDA holds talk with operators over cycle sharing scheme

Public bicycle sharing scheme in Dwarka here could soon become a reality as DDA today held consultations with six operators from across the country and discussed technology issues along with other details related to operationalisation of the project.
"The consultations were to discuss the operational and business models of the scheme that will help make the system deliver high quality services and also make it sustainable in the long run," the DDA said.
The talks were held by the Delhi Development Authority in association with Centre for Green Mobility and six operators participated in it.
"Operators which were from across India discussed the technology details and issues being faced during operations of such system. The issue of combining revenue collection (from advertising and other sources) with operations contract was deliberated in detail," the DDA said in a statement.

The cycle sharing project is one of the initiatives on part of the DDA to improve the quality of life in the city through eco-friendly measures. Dwarka sub city was built by the DDA.
"It is good to hear perspectives from different operators as mistakes that have already been made in other parts of the country as well as Delhi should serve as improvement points. The operators have come with rich experience thus DDA would like to benefit from their experience," Vice-Chairman DDA, Balvinder Kumar said.

Sanjeev Garg of Delhi Cycles said, "In case the operator has to collect advertisement, a separate team has to be deployed to do that, as collection is not their (operator's) core expertise. Moreover, the system requirements clash with the requirement of the advertiser."

Sayeed Arfath of Kerberon Automations, Bangalore said, "It is best to separate advertising sale from operational work. Kerberon has been running a self-developed fully automated system in Bangalore for the last four years."
Providing high-quality bikes that women in sarees can also ride was seen as an important aspect of the bicycle.
Bicycles fitted with GPS and having a control centre to manage their operations and preventing their theft and vandalism should be given high priority, the operators said.