Mysuru: The much awaited “Trin Trin” Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) system, which is aimed at promoting non-motorised means of transport, is expected to be launched in Mysuru in the first week of February.
This is a system where bicycles are owned and operated by a civic administration and its associates, for shared, short-term use by local residents as well as visitors, on an easy rental basis. The system involves borrowing a bicycle from any “docking station” across the city and returning the same after a ride to any “docking station”, as suits the convenience of the rider. “TrinTrin”, the PBS of Mysuru will be implemented and operated by Green Wheel Ride, a Mysuru city based enterprise engaged in manufacturing eco-friendly battery-operated bicycles, and promoting the concept and culture of cycling in Mysuru City. Currently, the system features 52 hubs and 450 bicycles.
“Trin Trin” is run by the State Government of Karnataka and funded by World Bank under the Global Environment Facility grant with the initial investment of Rs 7.7 Crore while the total project amounts to Rs 20.5 Crore including the maintenance and operational expenses for another 6 years. This project is the first of its kind in the country. Being named as the cleanest city in the country, the city will have the gradual reduction of Carbon Dioxide in coming days.
D Randeep, Deputy Commissioner said “If everything goes accordingly it will be launched in first week of February.”
The objective of Trin Trin:
The key objective of “TrinTrin” is to encourage local commuters, as well as visitors, to use the bicycle in preference to motorised modes of travel and thereby help scale down the multifarious environmental and road-traffic hazards, enhance conveyance convenience, and make local daily commutes economical for the common citizen. Apart from this, it will also induce health benefits not only for the public at large by facilitating reduction in air pollution, but also for the individual citizens by automatically getting them into the exercise of cycling, as they “to and fro” for their routine work.
How many bicycles:
To start with, 430 regular bicycles will be put to use which includes 20 multispeed bicycles (multi-geared) which will be available only at Chamundi Hill foot and Chamundi hill top. These bicycles are provided with multi speed capability to help the riders to shift to appropriate gears during climbing the Chamundi Hills.
How Trin Trin works:
TrinTrin public sharing system consists of completely automated bicycle hubs equipped with modern technology to monitor, unlock and lock the bicycles to the docking units. All the bicycle hubs are connected by communication network through which all of them are monitored from the central control centre. This enables the user to borrow the bicycle at one docking station and return it at any other docking station. Users have to register by providing necessary information in the form of an identity proof along with membership fees. At the end of the registration, each user will be given a unique smart card using which they can unlock the bicycle from the bicycle bay. User registration involves three steps; it can be completed online or through a smartphone app or by visiting any of six registration centres by providing information like name, address, contact phone number etc. One should also provide an identity proof like Aadhar card, passport, driver’s license, voter ID etc. To encourage regular usage of the system and to encourage the bicycle culture, the first 30 minutes are granted free for season-pass-holders. The first 30 minutes are always free throughout subscription period.
The project offers the bicycles to the public from the time limit of 0-30 minutes of rides to more than 12 hours of rides per day on various tariffs based on short and long term membership. The long term membership is being made available for 1 month, 3 months and 1 year on various charges. The charges for bicycles include usage, security deposit and processing fees.
