Want to explore your favourite destinations on a rented motorbike? Well, chances are you will end up with an electric motorbike. From now on, new players in the rent-a-bike business will get government approval only if they have electric motorbikes. Hundreds of rent-a-bike firms are operating in the state without government approval by leasing out high-end motorbikes to tourists and even locals.
Transport Minister A K Saseendran, however, said the decision was taken to promote electric mobility in the state. Rajeev Puthalath, Joint Transport Commissioner and Secretary, STA, said that recently the government legalised the rent-a-bike business after it was found that hundreds of private players are operating in this sector without government approval. As part of this, licences have been issued to private players who have a minimum of five motorbikes and a small office.
In the case of rent-a-car firms, the private player must have a fleet of at least 50 cars. Only a few private rent-a-bike firms have got the licence so far and as many as 15 applications are pending approval because of lack of proper documents. From now onwards, only those firms with at least five electric motorbikes and an office will be given licence. The motorbikes should sport black number plates with the registration number in yellow.
In the case of previously registered players, they can go ahead with their business and rent out motorbikes running on fossil fuel, said Rajeev. Recently, Bengaluru-based Royal Brothers launched an app-based ‘Rent-a-Bike' scheme in Thiruvananthapuram. But Kochi is the favourite destination of rent-a-bike operators and there are over 50 such firms.
A person can hire bikes on hourly or daily basis or monthly basis and the booking is through online. The user can also register and pay online for the motorcycle to be taken on rent-The Caferide, which is said to the first authorised firm to rent out luxury motorcycles in Kerala, has a fleet of popular luxury high-end brands like Harley Davidson, Royal Enfield, Ducati and Triumph- The tariff of bikes depends on the type of bike that one wishes to rent and it normally begins from Rs 1,000 for ordinary brands.
