After success of smart bikes, NDMC to rent out electric scooters
As of now, a total of 300 smart bikes have already been put out for public use at 25 stations, spread over the entire NDMC area.
After the success of smart bikes, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) plans to extend the rental concept to e-scooters for last mile connectivity in its area by end of September.
The project will be implemented in two phases in NDMC’s jurisdiction, senior officials familiar with the development said. In the first phase, 500 e-scooters will be procured and provided on rent at 50 stations while remaining 500 will be made available in second phase by December 2019.
The NDMC has invited tenders for designing, building, operation and maintenance of public e-scooter sharing system.
“After finalising the model of the scooter, per minute charge for hiring them and other terms and conditions, we will assign the project to concessionaire, possibly by March-end,” said Naresh Kumar, chairman, NDMC.
Two locations would be provided to charge the batteries of the e-scooters. “While the concessionaire will be responsible for installing charging points, we will be arranging for power supply at these places. The company can also establish monitoring station here,” said a senior NDMC official.
“Considering these e-scooters will have smart removable/swappable batteries, the company will have to mandatorily maintain 90% of fleet supply at any given point of time so that the overall services are not affected,” said the official further.
People who wish avail this facility can do so by registering on NDMC’s app — ‘NDMC-311’.
“After registration, app will immediately tell you the e-scooter stands close to your location. Users can use the touchpad on back of the e-scooters to unlock it through a one-time password (OTP) on their cellphone. The app records the time when the scooter is unlocked and the user is charged the fee accordingly,” he added.
“One can also see the charge percentage of batteries while hiring the e-scooters,” the official said.
The e-scooters will have a range of 80km on a full charge and can travel to speeds up to 55km per hour. The vehicle will cost around ₹1 lakh each.
The civic agency plans to establish e-scooters stands near hospitals, Metro stations, religious places and offices.
Officials said the sharing system would be based on the Smart Bike model. “People prefer bicycles for short distance. However, for over 2 kilometres, e-scooters can be more viable,” said the official.
The NDMC is already promoting the use of smart bikes in its area and plans to make cycle-friendly tracks, starting from Barakhamba Road. As of now, a total of 300 smart bikes have already been put for public use at 25 stations, spread over the entire NDMC area.