Faisal poses with a bicycle at a docking station at the MG Road Metro
The three young minds behind Bengaluru’s first completely automated bicycle sharing platform have been kept on their toes over the last few days.
Understandably too, as registrations have been on full-swing ever since the ATCAG (Automated Tracking and Control of Green Assets) metro docking stations opened to the public on Tuesday. Srinivas Ramesh, Syed Haseeb Arfath and Srinidhi Sridhar-the cofounders of Kerberon Automations, talk to us about this project, which has finally taken off in a big way, even as they insist that cycling is making some serious inroads into the lifestyles of young, urban Bengaluru.
“We now have docking stations in MG Road, Trinity and Ulsoor. In the next one week, we’ll also launch the ones in Indiranagar, Baiyapanahalli and SV Road, with a capacity of 100 cycles,“ starts off Srinivas. The idea for the venture itself was Arfath’s final year college project. “At that time, there was a lot of illegal parking collection going on and I wanted to introduce an automated system that would scan vehicles and allocate parking space accordingly.
When I showed this to my professor, he liked the idea but asked me to replace cars with cycles. Once, I was done with college, I took it forward.”
Talking about how cycling is set to become an integral part of urban Bengaluru’s life, Srinivas says, “Over the past year, the bicycle sharing system has been used by people right from the age of 18 to 63 years, by tourists, head chefs, CEOs, IT professionals. The cycleto-work trend is catching on -it’s seen as cool. Our aim is to promote non-motorised transport. Bengaluru is such a beautiful city with amazing weather.
And people are opening up to the idea of cycling. These days, at any given traffic signal, you’re bound to find at least one fully-kitted cyclist with a laptop bag, on his way to work. Bengaluru used to lack proper cycling infrastructure, but the BBMP recently launched a 42-kilometre cycling lane in Jayanagar.“ Srinidhi, adds, “Queries have been pouring in and we’re seeing people across segments, but mainly office-goers.”
So, do these young businessmen cycle to work themselves? Srinivas smiles, “I do about 30 km on a daily basis, and over the weekends, I try to cover over 100 km,“ while Srinidhi shrugs, “I cycle whenever possible. Since I take care of the technology, I often have a lot of heavy stuff to lug around. But when it’s office and back, I use a cycle.”
This young venture is a product of friendship. “Srinidhi and I had been studying together since LKG and are neighbours,“ says Arfath, “When I started Kerberon, he was contemplating going to the US, but I convinced him to stay back and join me. We weren’t very close before, but now, I spend most of my time with him.“ And what do they do to relax after a hard day’s work? He replies, “There is not much time to relax. But, Srinivas does regular trips to Nandi Hills and has introduced it to us too.”
As for their plans for the future, Arfath reveals, “Three months back, we launched an electric scooter version in a biotech park in Hyderabad. We want to introduce other non-motorised, clean modes of transport. So, the next step will be looking at electric cars.“ Srinivas concludes, “Kerberon will soon be in all the metros. We’re in talks already and everyone seems to be open to the idea.”
source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Tabloid> Bengaluru / by Anusha Vincent, DC / November 01st, 2012