Hyderabad Metro to have bicycle stations for last-mile connection

Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC), Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and UN Habitat on Thursday entered into a tripartite MoU to provide first and last mile connectivity to Metro passengers by setting up about 300 bike stations.

According to the MoU, about 10,000 bicycles including e-bikes would be made available at 300 Bike Stations. Of these, 63 bike stations will be at Metro stations, while the rest will be the 'feeder stations' spread all over Hyderabad.

"HMR will give all the required support and place at metro stations. UN Habitat is helping us to access funds. HBC will establish and operate the project. Total cost of this project is Rs 100 crore, which includes hardware and software," Hyderabad Bicycling Club chairman D V Manohar said.

There will be two types of bikes - regular (pedal-driven) ones costing Rs 50,000 and e-bike costing Rs 1 lakh.

"Detailed project report is done, the equipment has been ordered for the first (Metro) station, which should be operational by September end at JNTU. Bicycles will be provided on first-come-first-serve basis and will be provided only to HBC members," Manohar said.

According to HBC, this would be the largest 'Public Bike Sharing' (PBS) system of its kind in the world. "On successful implementation of the project we will extend the model to other cities," said Manohar.

Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Managing Director NVS Reddy said, "Out of total of 66 Metro stations, 63 stations will have bicycle stations with smart card operation and one can seamlessly travel from house to metro station to office and back."

Meanwhile, the safety certification trials of the 12-km Miyapur-SR Nagar stretch of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HRM) project here will be conducted soon, a top official said.

"We have completed 58 km of Metro foundations, 56 km of pillars and 46 km of viaduct and work on both the depots have been completed. For the Nagole-Mettuguda 8-km stretch, the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) has already given safety certification. The second stage of Miyapur-SR Nagar (12 km) stretch will go for safety certification trials very soon," HMR managing director NVS Reddy told reporters.

"The project is on schedule and going on well ... there are still some hurdles and we will overcome them," Reddy said in a reply to a query.

L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH), is developing the 72-km elevated Hyderabad Metro Rail project which will have three corridors and 66 stations.

The HRM Project is the world's largest public-private partnership project (PPP) in the sector. The metro network will cover a total distance of around 72 km across three corridors.

The project was initially scheduled to be completed by July 2017, but delays like changes in alignment, land acquisition and other issues have resulted in the project overshooting the deadline and all the three Metro Rail corridors, including the one passing through the Old City, would be completed by December 2018, authorities had earlier said.