CHANDIGARH: Bicycle-sharing will start here in two months. Delhi-based Smart Bike will station 5,000 pedal sets at 617 docks and pay
Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) Rs 12 lakh a year, which was the highest financial bid opened on Thursday.
The city will not spend even a penny and the company will get limited advertisement rights. A senior UT official said: “Two companies had cleared the technical-bid stage, so the contest came to who could pay the CSCL more.
Smart Bike’s rival quoted Rs 6 lakh.”
The authority’s board of directors will meet next week for approving the allotment to Smart Bike. The official said: “The 5,000 bicycles will come in a phased manner, since the company will first have to create its infrastructure. It’ll take 18 months for the full service to begin, although the first phase will start in two months.”
After failing thrice to start bicycle-sharing, the UT administration had relaxed the project rules and floated a new tender. The official said: “The relaxed rules allow for hybrid bicycles that can be switched from pedal to electrical mode. The earlier rules permitted only 25% bicycles to be power-assisted. Now, the city has also been divided into four zones to help the successful bidder lay its infrastructure.”
The earnest money was reduced from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to attract more bidders.