India launches first bicycle share scheme

India's first bike sharing scheme launched this weekend in the southern city of Mysuru.

The bikes, of which 450 will be available to the city's 1.2 million inhabitants, will be hirable from 48 docking stations across the city.

The scheme, which is being run by bike sharing company Trin Trin, was launched with a fair amount of fanfare in the city of Mysuru which is already known as India's cleanest city.

Alongside the physical launch, an app has been released and several videos have been published detailing how the system works.

Registered users will be able to access the bikes with an NFC-capable card. Registration costs 350 rupees, which is just over £4, and includes a refundable deposit for the activation cards.

 

Trin Trin New Beginning For more info visit us on - www.mytrintrin.com Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/mytrintrin/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/MyTrinTrin

A post shared by Trin Trin (@my_trin_trin) on Feb 11, 2017 at 5:15am PST

While this is a first for India, and arguably a progressive step, the launch hasn't been met with universal positivity. 

The Chief Minister of the south Indian state of Karnataka, in which Mysuru sits, questioned the quality of the bicycles provided as part of the sharing scheme.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah allegedly urged the Directorate of Urban Land Transport, which is implementing the project, to replace the bicycles with ones that are more comfortable.

He claimed that the bicycles were only suitable for users below the age of 30.

Given Siddaramaiah's comments, there are question marks over the long-term future of the Mysuru bike sharing scheme.

As we've seen in the UK, poorly maintained bike sharing schemes often fail.

>Read more: Reading bike hire scheme's future in chaos

>Read more: Scotland's first public bike hire scheme at £1000 cost-per-trip to council

However, given how successful the schemes appear to have been over in China, should the Mysuru experiment struggle, there may be scope for improvement with the next project that launches in India.

>Read more: $215m investment for Chinese bicycle sharing service

Reports in The Hindu newspaper suggest that several Indian cities including Bengaluru were looking to bring Trin Trin into their communities.