Zoomcar launches PEDL, India's first technology enabled cycle sharing service

Zoomcar, the self-drive car-sharing company with a presence in 27 cities in India, on Wednesday announced the launch of PEDL, India’s first technology-enabled cycle sharing service for hyper-local urban mobility.

Zoomcar stated that the company forayed in this new segment with an aim to provide individuals a convenient, affordable, and environmentally friendly cycle sharing service for short trips around the city.

Speaking on the PEDL launch, Zoomcar CEO and Co-founder Greg Moran said with the launch of our path breaking PEDL service the company is extending the Zoomcar platform into the realm of multi-modal urban mobility.

"We are thrilled to inaugurate India’s first tech enabled cycle sharing service that will offer a whole new level of convenience to citizens across Indian cities. There will also be some very special benefit PEDL benefits for our 30 lakh-plus existing Zoomcar customer base," he said.

Moran said there is a huge market gap for trips shorter than 5 kms and Zoomcar firmly believe that the cycle 2.0 is best positioned to serve these use cases.

"PEDL strongly compliments our core car sharing service as we continue to make a meaningful contribution to air quality improvement across Indian cities. At present, we’re speaking to various governmental bodies to craft policies and design urban infrastructure that will help ensure the responsible propagation of dockless cycle sharing across the country," he said.

Zoomcar will serve local use cases such as grocery shopping, errand running, and last mile commuting. The point to point nature of the service offers significant flexibility to the end user across the day.

PEDL was designed to complement Zoomcar’s existing car sharing business through serving an additional part of the personal transportation stack. Zoomcar expects to cross 10,000 cycles on road in 2017 with much larger expansion plans to follow in 2018.

After several weeks in pilot, PEDL presently operates over 500 cycles in 3 cities – Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. In Bangalore, the cycles are available at – HSR Layout, Chennai – Besant Nagar and Kolkata – Golf Greens.

PEDL cycles come with various unique features including but not limited to custom designed aluminum alloy frames and drum brakes, anti-slip chains, airless solid tyres, and height adjustable seats.

These cycles are designed to support 24-plus of intensive use while ensuring industry low maintenance costs and extremely high levels of customer satisfaction. The cycles are built with smart locks which are easily unlocked using a QR Code.

PEDL’s robust IoT stack is an extension of Zoomcar’s Cadabra IoT platform and includes real-time GPS tracking, solar battery charging, and built-in alarms. Each cycle also comes outfitted with a multipurpose basket to afford the customer greater convenience in travelling for work or leisure.

The process of using a PEDL is simple - just walk up to a PEDL location, pay via Paytm, and drop the cycle off when done at any of the PEDL locations. PEDL cycles are priced for the masses at an affordable Rs 10 per half an hour. Limited time launch promotions are currently running in select areas.