‘All the smart bikes in Chandigarh have been vandalized twice’

There are at least 3,750 smart bikes, including 1,700 electric bikes, currently in use in Chandigarh that are available at 465 docking stations across the city. The cost of an electric bike is a bit higher compared to that of a smart bike.

The public bike sharing system was introduced with 250 bikes and 25 docking stations in December 2020. Two phases of this project have already been completed, with the third phase starting in January 2023.

At least 7,000 incidents of smart bike vandalism have been reported since the project’s launch in chandigarh in December 2020. Most of these vandalism incidents were reported in the southern sectors – the rehabilitation colonies and in the villages below Chandigarh.

Details of the nature of the vandalism showed a variety of offences, including GPS system breaking, lockouts, theft of front racks, seats, chains, chain covers, punctured tires, tipping bikes in out-of-the-way places, among other things. . The maximum incidents of vandalism (4800) were reported in Burail, Sector 45, Ramdarbar, Maloya, Dadumajra, Sector 38, Sector 43, Sector 51, Sector 29, Sector 31, Buterla Village Sector 41.

In several cases, abandoned lost smart bikes were found in residential localities of Burail vilage, Sector 45, Ramdarbar, phase 2, etc.

A Smartbike Chandigarh official said: “The vandalism incidents were not limited to just the southern sectors. Even in northern and central sectors, smartbikes were damaged. The nature of vandalism in these areas is quite different, compared to the southern sectors. In the north and central areas, most people often abandoned their smarbikes in the middle of the roads. They also sometimes tried to drag the smart bikes after they crashed. In one case, the criminals cut the battery cables of at least half a dozen electric bikes parked at the Sukhna Lake docking station. Many missing smart bikes from docking stations in Sector 8, Sector 9, Sector 26 were found in the villages of Kansal, Kishangarh in damaged condition.”

According to the details, at least 300 police complaints were filed and about half a dozen of them became FIRs in the vandalism incidents.
Smartbike Chandigarh General Manager Vikash Bakshi said: “We report all acts of vandalism to the local police. The problem can only be addressed when the residents who use the bikes begin to believe they own it and take care of it. I personally think that we have not succeeded in making people understand that Chandigarh is their city and that bicycles are for their convenience. The police cannot file a FIR TREE in each incident. The general public has lately begun to be more sensitized. They call and tell us every time they see an abandoned smart bike somewhere. The peak vandalism incidents were reported in 2021. The company has an 11-year contract with the Chandigarh administration.”

Plans to introduce Bluetooth

Smartbike Ltd company has been planning to introduce bluetooth system in smart bikes to tackle the problem of low connectivity in Chandigarh. The company, which operates the project from the Smart City office in Sector 17, has received numerous complaints about poor coordination between the user’s smartphone and the smartbike due to low connectivity in some areas. A company official said, “Sometimes, even when the user downloads the smartbike app, we don’t get a notification of it at our Sector 17 office here due to network issues. We are working on a plan to see if smart bikes can connect to users’ smartphones via bluetooth.”