Metropolitan cities are infamous for their exorbitant auto/cab charges. Bangalore is no exception to that. Adding to it, Bangalore’s choking traffic only makes commute longer and more strenuous. To beat both of the above woes, every household resorted to buying scooters for their convenience. But, while families can afford it, the daily commuters who are either newcomers to the city or do not wish to buy a vehicle suffered for lack of options. Buses were convenient for the main roads, but how to travel the first or last mile inexpensively?
Wicked Ride’s Last Mile Connectivity Solution
Wicked Ride, a Bangalore based bike rental start-up, saw an opportunity and introduced us to a convenient solution – Bounce keyless scooters. Named as Metro Bikes previously, Bounce offers dock-less rental scooter service in Bangalore. Its business model is based on a simple principle – unlock the scooter with an OTP connected to your phone (currently they have upgraded most of their scooters to Bluetooth unlock) and then take it for a ride. The storage box usually stores the helmet and vehicle papers. Upon reaching your destination, you park the bike in an appropriate public place nearby. The Bounce phone app calculates the charges upon ending the ride, based on the distance travelled and the time taken. The rates are very nominal, starting at ₹6/km. They also have daily/ monthly rental services.
Customer Reaction And Further Funding
No sooner was it introduced to the market than the public gobbled up the opportunity. In September 2018, the company started with 100 bikes in Bangalore. It quickly raised enough capital to meet the demand. By July 2019, Bounce had introduced over 7000 bikes in the city with an average of 60000 daily bookings1. Bounce also claimed that within ten months of being introduced, their scooters had completed over 5 million rides. By July 2019, the company had also raised over $92 million in funding over three rounds, majorly backed by B Capital Group and Falcon Edge Capital, a New York-based hedge fund2.
These numbers may seem surprising to an outsider in Bangalore. But, in the city, I could see how popular the service had become. Their hassle-free and inexpensive service coupled with easy availability of bikes at every nook and corner of the city made Bounce immensely popular among the citizens. The city even saw a spike in public transport usage because the first and last mile connectivity issue was democratized to a large extent3.
Challenges Faced And Measures Taken
While the concept backed with good technology was revolutionary, the service came with a lot of problems. Since the scooters could be parked anywhere, theft of machine parts by public miscreants was rampant. Finding working scooters was a big problem. One had to change multiple bikes to find an operational one. This is where the power of public feedback came in handy. With efficient feedback forms and call center services, Bounce was able to instantly locate faulty scooters. These could be removed from their map temporarily until fixed by their mechanics. Next, they introduced helmet trackers in the storage box to mitigate the problem of theft. They also introduced attractive cashback offers for users who would refuel their bikes before ending their rides.
Changing With The Times
Towards the end of 2019, I could see a lot of electric Bounce scooters on the roads. These had been introduced to limit fuel dependence – a step towards an energy-efficient society. Furthering this, in 2020, they raised about $6.5 million from InnoVen Capital, Asia’s leading venture debt provider, to introduce more electric vehicles in their service as well as expand their business in other Indian cities4.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent government-directed lockdown has affected the company’s business. There has been a sharp fall in demand for its services. To combat this, Bounce has already tied up with various essential delivery services like Ninjacart, Swiggy and BigBasket. Their scooters and operational staff are used for home delivery to keep the business up5.
Since its introduction, the company has eased Bangaloreans’ burden of commuting. It still has a long way to go. Personally, I believe, it has the potential to enter the markets in different cities and be profitable as it goes. Their efficient call center personals always make sure that any issue I have with their service, for example, overcharging or wrong parking, is quickly and satisfactorily resolved. There have been innumerable times when I had to use a Bounce scooter to reach the interiors of the city or in the middle of the night when all other public transport charged exorbitantly. As a newcomer to the city, their service has helped me and my friends immensely. I would definitely keep using Bounce when I head back.
While technology will keep giving us options to reduce our day to day problems, it is also our responsibility to respect it. I would urge the public to not misuse the scooters for their own gain, by stealing the helmets and machine parts or by parking them inside their housing complex for later use. Being cognizant of others’ problems is, I believe, the key to a better, more holistic future.