Hundreds cycle the rail-to-office last mile

Last-mile connectivity could not have got this cheap and eco-friendly. Hundreds of IT employees now alight from the skeletal suburban trains and head to their offices in Whitefield and the Outer Ring Road on app-based bicycles, a service launched by Bengaluru-based startup Yulu.

The serviced was kicked off five months ago with a few hundred dockless bicycles. Yulu’s target was obvious: Techies, who either walked from the railway station or hired the costly cab or autorickshaw rides. Yulu’s co-founder Amit Gupta says the strategy clicked, and today, the service has the IT employees hooked to over 1,000 bicycles.

On the suburban rail stretch, the bicycles are placed at Bellandur, Carmelaram, KR Puram and Hoodi stations. While Bellandur is a 15-20 minute ride away from the tech parks of Kadubeesanahalli on the Outer Ring Road, the bicycles at Carmelaram cater to IT employees bound for Sarjapur Road.

The Hoodi halt station is a good 20-30 minute walk away from the ITPL. But the app-based cycles make the commute quicker and breezy. Users just need to download Yulu’s iOS or Android app, book the cycle and unlock the bikes via QR codes.

Once the user reaches his/her destination, the cycle could be parked in the dedicated cycle space. “They could park at the Yulu zones inside office spaces. If the user is headed to a place where there is no Yulu Zone, they could choose a safe area where it does not obstruct any other vehicle. This option is available from 6 am to 6 pm,” explains Gupta.

Beyond 6 pm, the bicycle should be returned to a Yulu zone or stationed at a safe location inside the user’s house.

The cycle rides are currently priced at Rs 5 for every 30 minutes. Yulu has proposed to increase it to Rs 10 shortly. The money could be paid through mobile wallets. The startup has plans to introduce passes for daily users.

Beyond the railway stretch, the bicycle network covers the Iblur Junction to KR Puram on the Outer Ring Road, and from KR Puram to the Swami Vivekananda metro station. The cycles are also placed at Baiyappanahalli and Indiranagar metro stations.