Recently I have seen a lot of green-colored bicycles outside metro stations in Gurgaon. Being curious, I could not stop myself from taking a closer look at one such bicycle parked just outside the exit gate of my office premises.
These bicycles belong to a startup Mobycy, which provides a dockless bicycle sharing service, letting one hire a bicycle from any public place just by downloading their app and scanning the QR code on the bicycle.
Intrigued, I decided to try out the service immediately and within 5-10 minutes was ready to paddle past the traffic. Here is my brief take on Mobycy’s service based on my first ride.
What I Liked About Mobycy
- Easy Accessibility: Since it is a dockless service, you can find bicycles parked in any public place- there are no designated parking spots that you have to walk to. They also show cycles near you on the map in the app. I have also noticed that they keep a good number of bicycles near busy metro stations.
- Easy To Get Started: The onboarding process is quite simple. Download the app, upload identity proof, add Paytm, and pay a security deposit of ₹399/-, scan the QR code on the bicycle, and Voila! Bicycle unlocked! To end the trip you just need to lock the cycle again.
- Affordable: At ₹5/- for 30 minutes, the service is very affordable.
- Last Mile Connectivity: This is a good option for last-mile connectivity from Metro stations.
What Mobycy Need To Work On/Challenges Mobycy Might Face
- Indian roads are not bicycle-friendly.
- UI could be more polished. e.g. I added a 399/- deposit through Paytm but the app shows my current Paytm balance and not the security deposit.
- The app doesn’t calculate the distance accurately. I rode the bicycle for ~1.5 Km but the app shows 0 m.
- ₹399/- security deposit is on the higher side especially when you can withdraw it for free only once. After that, if you again decide to use the service and hence pay a security deposit, you will have to pay a ₹50/- fee to withdraw that.
I am not sure if such a service is already available in other cities in India. I have seen similar services in New Zealand though.
Overall, I am excited about all the tech innovation happening in the transportation sector and I am optimistic that our traffic woes could be a thing of the past!
Link: http://www.mobycy.com/
Photo Credit:
- Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
Here after ages!!! Anyways its a hood initiative and many such initiatives have atarted in multiple cities… am yet to try them though
Hi Guys,
Just Want to say, never ever fall in the net of the fraudsters – MOBYCY.
I was using the services for few days and in the beginning it was good. I was getting charged for whatever services I was using.
But later on they started charging and deducting money from my paytm wallet even if I am not using the service. After you end the ride, they deduct good amount of money from your wallet and when you log a complain against your deduction, Customer care representative will not talk to you properly and they won't even provide you a solution or the reason behind your deduction.
Its the fake service, PLEASE DON'T USE IT, UNTILL AND UNLESS YOU WANT TO LOSE GOOD AMOUNT OF MONEY FROM YOUR PAYTM WALLET.