Bicycle sharing startup Mobycy pivots to become e-bike sharing platform

Mobycy, a dockless bicycle sharing app with an aim to solve the last mile connectivity has pivoted to become e-bike and e-scooter sharing platform.

According to Akash Gupta, co-founder of Mobycy, the firm has piloted its in-house designed electric scooters in several parts of Gurugram. As of now, about 100 e-scooters are in operation and it is planning to extend the service to other parts of the National Capital Region (NCR).

Further, a year old startup plans to launch 300 Zypp scooters in NCR by this month and over 5,000 e-scooters over the next six months. The firm is also looking to expand its operation in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Pune where bike sharing model has been welcomed by citizens and government agencies.

For Hyderabad, Mobicy is in talks with metro service to provide last mile connectivity.

Like bicycles, Mobicy's e-scooters will be QR-code enabled with features like updates users on the remaining battery and runtime on the scooters.

Bicycle sharing model: A tough nut to crack in India?

So far bicycle or bike sharing has been dominated by global players like Ofo and Mobike. The Chinese duo also entered the Indian market with a promising future. However, Ofo had to shut its operations and later sold the assets to Sequoia-backed Bounce.

On the other hand, Mobike's expansion plan has also been hit by the low demand and lack of infrastructure.

Apart from the global behemoths, Zoomcar-owned bike sharing app PEDL had also halted its operation temporarily while other players including Ola Pedal, Yulu and Letzcycle haven't picked up beyond few pockets in a couple of cities.

Even euphoria around bicycle sharing model has subsided in China. Ofo and Mobike have been facing several challenges and government wrath over managing fleet of bikes across public places.

Scaling bicycle sharing model is difficult in India because of poor public infrastructure and lack of awareness. Apart from few cities (like Pune and Ahmedabad), citizens can't commute on bicycles.

Going forward, either the government should hatch the conducive infrastructure for startups operating in the segment or such startups will have to wait till adequate facilities get in motion.

The development was reported by ET.