The city’s first bicycle club, which had to stop pedalling after the number of members overgrew manageable levels, is getting a second life. This time, with automation.
Mayor K Chandrika will launch the Athi’s Bicycle Club Management Software (AMS) on August 6, marking the second coming of the club. The club will also install 15 bicycle racks across the city, Athirup, the brain behind Athi’s Bicycle Club (abc), said.
With the introduction of the software, all services which are based on SMSes sent by the members, will be handled by it. ‘’Earlier, the SMSes were handled manually. It became difficult when the number of members crossed 1,000 in Thiruvananthapuram. The demand for bicycles used to peak between 5 pm and 6 pm. So, we could not handle it manually. The software will be able to handle any number of customers,’’ Athirup said.
The club works on simple principles. Bicycles are kept in racks, and a member can take one by using a code sent by the club as reply to his/her SMS request. A user need not return the cycle to the same rack, but to the rack nearest his destination. The payment is made there. This system will continue in the second edition also, Athirup said.
After launching the club in Thiruvananthapuram city, Athirup had introduced it at Technopark, where it received a warm welcome. ‘’We have about 800 members there. We also launched it in Kochi, but we faced problems similar to Thiruvananthapuram there also. We plan to have a relaunch in Kochi city in August itself,’’ he said.
On August 6, Mayor Chandrika will inaugurate the software at a bicycle rack near Museum. The club will have racks at Sasthamangalam, Vellayambalam, Kowdiar, Vazhuthacaud, Palayam, Thampanoor, Bakery Junction, PMG, Statue, East Fort, Jagathy, Pattom, Karamana, Shangumugham and Veli.
A campaign on the club’s theme, ‘Switch to bicycling, as much as you can’ would start along with the launch, encouraging residential associations, clubs, corporate and individual to join and help develop the network, he said.
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