Now, residents can pedal through Panchkula on rented bicycles

Residents can rent a bicycle from 20 different dock stations in the city at ₹5 for half an hour after registering themselves through a mobile-based application

The wait to pedal around the city on rental bicycles is over for the residents of Panchkula as the public bicycle sharing (PBS) system, under the smart city project, will be inaugurated by Haryana chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday.

In the initial phase, the civic body has decided to keep 200 cycles at 20 bike stations. (SANT ARORA/HT)

With the PBS system in place, residents can rent a bicycle from 20 different dock stations in the city at ₹5 for half an hour after registering themselves through a mobile-based application. Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) commissioner Rajesh Jogpal said the work of installation and operation of bicycle sharing system in the city was allotted to M/S Dharani Enterprises for three years. The firm is already running the system in Bhopal and Gwalior. The estimated cost of the project is ₹2.09 crore.

In the initial phase, the civic body has decided to keep 200 cycles at 20 bike stations, which will be increased after reviewing the response. The bicycles will be equipped with global positioning system (GPS) tracking and a feature for cashless transactions through mobile apps and smart locks. It will be controlled by Android and iOS applications. Jogpal said all the information regarding the PBS system is available on the mobile app, Yaana.

The bicycles will operate for 14 hours from 6am to 8pm. A central control system will also be set up in the MC office to monitor them in real time. As per the application, one can get bicycle rides of 30 minutes for 180 days at ₹500 under a membership plan. Jogpal said the project will also generate advertisement revenue by giving rights to service providers to sell advertisement space on 40% of the docking stations i.e. eight out of 20 stations. The MC will invite separate tenders for giving advertisement rights on the remaining docking stations.

CM to inaugurate new MC building,
projects worth ₹92.72 crore

CM Khattar will also lay foundation stone of the new MC building in Sector 3, besides inaugurating other projects worth ₹92.72 crore. The multi-storied office of the MC, with an estimated cost of ₹45.43 crore, will be the first green building in Panchkula, which is set to become an eco-friendly city. For this, the civic body had tied up with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), to join the movement for eco-friendly infrastructure. The CM will also inaugurate the institutional sports complex constructed in Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 3, at a cost of ₹13.44 crore among other projects.