IndiaRides: An Interview

india rides

Weekends are not meant to be dull. They are meant to relax and refresh your body and mind. For many of us, weekends are also meant for exploring! Running away to Goa (tourist) or Gokarna (traveller) is the first thing we plan for any upcoming long weekend. But as the day approaches, our destination changes to places around Manipal.

Read More:Cool Places to Visit Around Manipal

Sure, autos and buses seem to be the easiest form of transport to catch, but they lack the fun a journey is supposed to have! That’s when our student-based startups come into the picture. We have already talked about the bicycle rental service, Velox, which aims at establishing bicycle stations inside the campus for us to reach class on time. This time, we’ll move up a level and talk about IndiaRides, a student-based startup for bike rental services in Manipal.

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Founded by Tanmay Bohra, a 2016 batch EEE student from MIT, IndiaRides offers sports bikes and Activas for rent on a daily basis. Anant Agarwal, a Civil Engineering student from the Batch of 2017, joined Tanmay to help him run the office and carry the idea forward.

The chief mentor for the initiative, Mr. Vignesh Kamath is the Managing Director of Kamath Motors. All the bikes are legally bought and undergo regular maintenance at their service centre.

They are located at Shop No. 4, Mandavi Emerald, End Point Road, Manipal. Yes, the same place where Sizzler Ranch is present.The rental procedure is very simple and affordable for the student community. Their fleet has a total of 24 bikes at present and there’s more in the pipeline.

MTTN:How did you come up with the idea of bike rental services in Manipal?

Tanmay: When I was in my sophomore year, I always wished to ride bikes around all these amazing places in Manipal. But back then, rental services were hard to find and their procedure was a very long one. I thought of beginning a startup (like we all keep doing) to provide the service in an easy and affordable manner. This was just a thought until last year when I made up my mind to put the idea to work.

We came up with the name ‘IndiaRides’ and did a trial run of our services last semester which went successfully.

MTTN:What is the procedure for renting a bike?

Anant: On weekdays, we have a minimum 3-hr policy for bikes and minimum 5-hr for Activa.

To rent a bike, you need to fill a form with your basic details. A security deposit of ₹1500 per bike is required. The rider is required to show their Driving License for verification and submit any identity proof (like Combo Card, Library Card etc) which will be returned after the journey.

We provide the bikes with a full fuel tank and the rider is supposed to return it back with a full tank. For safety purposes, we provide helmets for every rider at a low cost. Also, we provide on-road assistance for our riders.

Our weekend bookings begin on Thursday morning and for the past five weeks, we have been sold out. Also, all our bikes are also available for a monthly-basis rent.

MTTN: What is the on-road assistance service?

Anant: We want our riders to have a comfortable trip. In case they face any difficulty in between, we are available on-call to provide help for the bike or help them find the nearest petrol station or the popular destinations. All our bikes are equipped with a tracker which gives us info on the rider’s exact location and the speed. This way, we can reach the customer in case that’s required.

MTTN: Tell us more about your bike arsenal.

Tanmay: All our bikes aim at a smooth rider experience. The bike cleaning and service is done regularly at Kamath Motors. Other than the Activas, we have recently introduced five new Honda Navi bikes which are motorcycle-looking scooters providing a smooth ride at a decent mileage. Our 24-member squadron will soon expand to 53, with the addition of Pulsar 220F, Bajaj Avenger, Honda Activa (five each), seven Duke 200 and three KTM RC 200 bikes.

MTTN: What are your plans for the future?

Anant: We have many ideas pending to be executed. We are planning on providing bikes before 8AM for the students residing around End Point Road to reach their classes faster. Introducing biking-stations around the city is also on our list, for easy pick-up & drop-off service for the customers. Moreover, with our Karnataka State License, IndiaRides is all set to start off its services in Mangalore as well. Our main aim is to provide the best experience to our customers and we are glad to see people satisfied with IndiaRides.

The complete list of their bikes along with the rates are as follows: –

[table]

[tr][th]Bike Name[/th] [th]Rate Per Hour (Weekday)[/th] [th]Rate Per Day (Weekday)[/th] [th]Rate Per Hour (Weekend)[/th] [th]Rate Per Day (Weekend)[/th] [th]Extra km charge[/th][/tr]

[tr][td]Honda Activa[/td] [td]20[/td] [td]430[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]475[/td] [td]1[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Honda Navi[/td] [td]20[/td] [td]430[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]475[/td] [td]1[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Bajaj Avenger 150 Street[/td] [td]35[/td] [td]750[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]820[/td] [td]1.5[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Bajaj Avenger 220 Street[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]820[/td] [td]42[/td] [td]910[/td] [td]2[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Bajaj Avenger 220 Cruise[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]820[/td] [td]42[/td] [td]910[/td] [td]2[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Bajaj V15[/td] [td]40[/td] [td]860[/td] [td]45[/td] [td]970[/td] [td]2[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Royal Enfield Classic 350[/td] [td]45[/td] [td]970[/td] [td]55[/td] [td]1190[/td] [td]3[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350[/td] [td]55[/td] [td]1190[/td] [td]65[/td] [td]1400[/td] [td]3.5[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]KTM Duke 200[/td] [td]55[/td] [td]1190[/td] [td]65[/td] [td]1400[/td] [td]3.5[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]KTM Duke 390[/td] [td]65[/td] [td]1400[/td] [td]85[/td] [td]1830[/td] [td]3.5[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]KTM RC 200[/td] [td]70[/td] [td]1500[/td] [td]90[/td] [td]1950[/td] [td]3.5[/td][/tr]

[tr]Extra Km charge is applicable only after 15km/hour [/tr]

[tr]Safety Helmet charge is Rs.50/Day [/tr]

[/table]

-Ayush Agrawal for MTTN

Featured Image by The Sandbox Design Studios

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