Bombay Bicycle Club

India’s first bicycle share in Mumbai suburb

V. Ramesh was an executive at a financial services firm in India when he quit to start “FreMo“, what he claims is India’s first bicycle share in Thane, a northeastern suburb of Mumbai (aka Bombay).

Some areas of Thane have the horribly choked traffic characteristic of many highly urbanized areas and where local planners try to solve transportation problems by building more roads. Public transportation is apparently unreliable, and commuters using the local trains and buses have the same “last mile” problem that American transit users have. Ramesh’s dream is to establish bike share depots at commuter modal bottlenecks such train stations and employment centers.

FreMo members might travel into downtown Thane by train, then show their FreMo membership card at the staffed bike depot to borrow a bike while their peers try to flag down an autorickshaw and hop on an overcrowded bus. According to FreMo, a bus trip can take upwards of a half hour or more to travel just three or four kilometers (!), while an autorickshaw can take 25 minutes to travel that distance after you’ve flagged down a driver. A slow bicyclist in heavy traffic can travel 4 km in 20 minutes.

Ramesh, motivated by concerns about pollution and global warming, began looking for funding for this venture in 2008. He received funding recently and hopes to open for business this month.

In the articles in Indian media on Ramesh’s bike share ventures, several people have left comments on the the danger of cycling in India. In Mumbai and environs, however, it’s still common practice for commuters to hang from open doors and sit on top of the trains, even when they’re powered by 25kV overhead catenaries!

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