Hyderbad Metro to have bicycle stations for last-mile connectivity

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC), Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and UN Habitat on Thursday entered into a tripartite MoU to provide first and last mile connectivity to Metro passengers by setting up about 300 bike stations.

According to the MoU, about 10,000 bicycles including e-bikes would be made available at 300 Bike Stations. Of these, 63 bike stations will be at Metro stations, while the rest will be the ‘feeder stations’ spread all over Hyderabad. HMR will give all the required support and place at metro stations. “UN Habitat is helping us to access funds. HBC will establish and operate the project. Total cost of this project is Rs 100 crore, which includes hardware and software,” Hyderabad Bicycling Club chairman D V Manohar said.

“There will be two types of bikes - regular (pedal-driven) ones costing Rs 50,000 and e-bike costing Rs 1 lakh. Detailed project report is done, the equipment has been ordered for the first (Metro) station, which should be operational by September end at JNTU here. Bicycles will be provided on first-come-first-serve basis and will be provided only to HBC members,” Manohar said. According to HBC, this would be the largest ‘Public Bike Sharing’ (PBS) system of its kind in the world.

“On successful implementation of the project we will extend the model to other cities,” said Manohar. Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Managing Director NVS Reddy said, “Out of total of 66 Metro stations, 63 stations will have bicycle stations with smart card operation and one can seamlessly travel from house to metro station to office and back.”