Fear of public transport fuels surge in electric scooter sharing in Bengaluru - watsupptoday.com
Fear of public transport fuels surge in electric scooter sharing in Bengaluru
Posted 30 Oct 2020 01:24 PM

30-10-2020

App-based rental scooter firms such as Bounce, Yulu, Vogo and Evo are looking to deploy more electric vehicles in Bengaluru, following a surge in demand for e-bikes.

Firms say e-scooters are environment-friendly and have less operational and maintenance costs and, with a pandemic around, users feel that it is safer than other public transport modes like buses, autorickshaws, cabs and Namma Metro for short-distance commuting.

Yulu said it has more than 1,000 bike zones across the city. �Yulu Miracle [electric scooter] has established itself as the safest and the easiest mode of commute. We plan to have a high-speed version in the near future,� said Amit Gupta, co-founder and CEO.

He revealed the surge in demand is being fuelled by the need for sanitised mobility solutions, especially from those who do not have the luxury of working from home.

�We have seen a lot of new users on our platform who work as support staff in IT firms, in hospitals, banks, delivery businesses and courier services,� Gupta said. �A big portion of our users are taking rides to run errands like grocery shopping etc.� Gupta said vehicles are sanitised multiple times a day and users can see timestamps on their app.

Vivekananda Hallekere, co-founder of Bounce, said the firm plans to add 3,000 e-scooters to its existing fleet of 1,500. �Discretionary travel has reduced, but people are moving about for essentials,� he said. �Multiple offices are operating sporadically and we�ve been helping employees travel safely.�

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