Cheap Bounce bike deal hit by delays in RTOs

Thousands of people who bought used scooters from ride-sharing firm Bounce at attractive rates are awaiting the transfer of ownership even six months after the purchase due to bureaucratic red tape.

In 2019, Wicked Ride Adventure Services Pvt Ltd, the company that provides bike-sharing and other services under the brand name Bounce, started to shift towards electric vehicles and started selling the conventional bikes.

About 10,000 vehicles, most of them about a year old and in good condition, were sold in Bengaluru, Hubballi and other places at half the price of a new bike.

A customer who bought a TVS Scooty for Rs 29,000 in August last year, said that the vehicle has remained unused ever since. “I still think it’s a good deal except that I can’t use it. The ownership of the vehicle and its category has not been changed more than six months after the purchase. If I am stopped by police or RTO officials, I will end up paying a penalty of thousands of rupees,” he said.

Besides the transfer of ownership, the category of the vehicle has to be changed. Bounce bikes typically carry yellow number plates assigned for commercial use. During the change of ownership, they have to be changed to “whiteboard” for private use.

Many other customers have approached the company with similar complaints. One customer from Hubballi said he has been persistently calling the helpline number of Bounce. “I was promised that ownership transfer and number plate change would happen in 90 days. However, every time I call the customer care, I am being promised that it will be settled in a week,” he said.

A field employee of Bounce said the ownership transfer and number plate change of more than 3,000 vehicles has been stuck at RTOs. “We are also hearing complaints everyday,” he confirmed.

Bounce co-founder Vivekananda H R acknowledged the issue. “We have submitted all the transfer documents to the RTOs. We are waiting for appropriate action from the transport authorities. We are providing the same information to the people. The only other thing we can do is to tell people to return their bike and we will refund the money. We don’t gain anything by delaying vehicle transfer,” he said.

An official at one of the RTOs said the problem was rooted in searching for the files. “We started digital registration of vehicles recently. The documents for these vehicles have not been digitised. As a result, we have to search through thousands of files, which is taking time. Besides, transferring a commercial vehicle into a private category is also time consuming,” he said.

Transport Commissioner N Shivakumar said the issue has not come to his notice. “I suggest that the vehicle owners send an email to the department along with copy of documents. We will take appropriate action,” he said.