‘Every smartbike in Chandigarh has been vandalised twice’

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

At least 7,000 incidents of vandalism of smartbikes had been reported since the launch of the project in Chandigarh in December, 2020. A majority of these vandalism incidents were reported in the southern sectors — the rehabilitation colonies and in villages that come under Chandigarh.

Details of the nature of vandalism showed varied offences — including breaking of the GPS system, locks, stealing of the front carriers, seats, chains, chain covers, puncturing wheels, dumping cycles in secluded places, among other things. The maximum incidents of vandalism (4,800) were reported from Burail, Sector 45, Ramdarbar, Maloya, Dadumajra, Sector 38, Sector 43, Sector 51, Sector 29, Sector 31, Buterla village Sector 41.

In a number of instances, missing smartbikes were found lying abandoned in residential localities of Burail vilage, Sector 45, Ramdarbar, phase-2, etc

An official from Smartbike Chandigarh said, “The incidents of vandalisms were not limited to just the southern sectors. Even in northern and central sectors the smartbikes were damaged. The nature of vandalism in these areas is quite different, when compared to the southern sectors. In the northern and central areas, people mostly often abandoned their smarbikes in the middle of roads. They also sometimes tried to drag the smartbikes after it got locked. In one insatnce, miscreants cut the battery wires of at least half a dozen e-bikes stationed at the Sukhna Lake docking station. Many missing smartbikes from docking stations in Sector 8, Sector 9, Sector 26 were found in Kansal, Kishangarh villages in damaged condition.”

As per details, at least 300 police complaints were lodged and around half a dozen of them converted into FIRs in the vandalism incidents.
General Manager, Smartbike, Chandigarh, Vikash Bakshi, said, “We report all acts of vandalisms to the local police. The problem can be tackled only when the residents using the bikes start believing that it is their own property and take care of them. I personally believe that we have failed to make the people understand that Chandigarh is their city and the bikes are for their convenience. Police can not lodge an FIR in every incident. The general public of late have started becoming more sensitised. They call and tell us whenever they now spot a smartbike lying abandoned somewhere. The maximum incidents of vandalism 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 smartbikes to tackle the problem of low connectivity in Chandigarh. The company, which operates the project from Smart City office in Sector 17, has received numerous complaints of poor coordination between the smartphone of the user and the smartbike due to low connectivity in some areas. An official of the company said, “Sometimes, even when the smartbike app is downloaded by the user, we do not receive a notification of the same at our Sector 17 office here due to network issues. We are working on a plan to see if the smartbikes can be connected to the smartphone of users via bluetooth.”