Here are two things that'll solve transportation problems in India, rampant pollution and obesity, diabetes and other common health problems:
Bicycles and walking.
1
Riding a scooter in India is suicidal.
when I'm there-i dont drive at all. There are no rules.
This is not a long term viable solution. Scooters are really cheap in India, so I dont know why would anyone rent an electric scooter when they already have one.
Also the well heeled folks (a rising segment in India) want to be in a car, even if that means a longer commute.
1
I’m surprised this article doesn’t mention Scoot, the company that has been providing electric scooters on demand in San Francisco for the last 7 years or so. The model appears to be a viable one, and the scooter and it’s associated app have grown and evolved over the last years into a very convenient option to busses or ride share. My only hope is that is a profitable business.
2
Set to fail. The biz model just ain't viable. The cost is gonna go so high coz the operators need to deploy so many bikes to meet the requirement of being convenient given India is a large country in terms of both population and area. The earning will be ultra low due to a relatively low price to meet the relatively low income level.
Maybe I'm an old fashioned that I don't understand how this toVC model works. If a biz didn't make profit, it has no value. Therefore, no one would invest. Apparently I'm wrong. 😂
1
I grew up in India, in Bangalore actually, and I’m petrified at the thought of riding a two wheeled vehicle in the traffic there. Traffic is so heavy that drivers fold in their rear view mirrors because other vehicles drive so close to yours that mirrors are routinely broken off.
Some years ago, on one of my visits, I witnessed a driver of a scooter nick another vehicle and fall off into traffic. He very narrowly escaped being run over by a bus that was close behind.
I think scooter ride sharing is difficult to export to countries with stronger customer protection rules than India. In India, the operator of a vehicle with a busted rear view mirror is highly unlikely to become subject to lawsuits for failing to maintain their vehicles. Other nations are unlikely to take that approach.
I sympathize with the Uber and Ola drivers. The last time I was in Bangalore, the longest ride I took, from the airport to the center of town, about 20 miles, cost $11 and took about an hour. In-town rides rarely cost more than $2. Gas in India is 2x the price in the US. I couldn’t understand how the drivers could pay their expenses and still earn a living at the prices they charged. It turned out that Uber and Ola were heavily subsidizing fares. I knew it couldn’t last. I understand the frustration of the drivers now that the subsidies are being eliminated.
India desperately needs transportation solutions but I’m not sure more private vehicles are the answer.
7
As a lifelong motorcyclist, I always see the transportation resolutions through motorcycles (motorbikes for the grandma's in all of us). To think these India company's can create a successful business with motorbike ride sharing would be a dream come true!
1
Not all of Indonesia has embraced Uber. Will this new motorbike hybrid model be any different in places such as Bali?
This article has the wrong headline: It isn't about ride-sharing. It's about motor-scooter-sharing and ride-hailing. Ride sharing would mean that one driver with one car carries several passengers, who don't know each other, but are making a similar trip at about the same time. (Example: One driver picks up three people at three different places in lower Manhatten, who all need to catch a flight at JFK.) This could be done, with the right smart-phone app. It would be less convenient than ride-hailing, but it sure would help reduce traffic.
12
IMHO, like USA electric scooters, this has "disaster" written all over it. Three high school classmates were killed in m/c accidents -- and they *knew* how to ride. If the choice is walking or riding with an unknown driver -- I'll walk.
1
A great idea, in India; in America, not so much. As the article notes, India has a huge motor bike presence. Not true in the U.S. Two problems; most states require a separate license for bikes, and, do you see how cars drive here ? There's a reason hospital's call bikes donor cycles. Too few bikes, too big a risk; not an attractive business model.
3
@Charles Dawson We're talking scooters here, like the Vespa that's very common in Italy. In Europe, you don't need an extra licence for the slower types, and they are not that dangerous to ride because they don't go very fast. Of course you can talk down everything immediately, but that will not help to solve any problems, ever.
4
@S The danger comes from automobile drivers, not the speed of the scooter. In many situations, greater speed is a safety measure, like when you need to get out of the way quickly.
2
@Michael Sklaroff, I find the danger from scooters/motorcycles that weave in/out of slow traffic and squeezing in between cars. It is only a matter of time before collisions between scooters and autos become more and more common... and it won't be the drivers of cars who will need to be scraped up off the pavement.
A great idea, in India; in America, not so much. As the article notes, India has a huge motor bike presence. Not true in the U.S. Two problems; most states require a separate license for bikes, and, do you see how cars drive here ? There's a reason hospital's call bikes donor cycles. Too few bikes, too big a risk; not an attractive business model.