Rent-a-two-wheeler a new fad in Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: Unable to roam around the city for not having a two-wheeler or disgusted with inflated bills of cabs and auto rickshaws? Here’s is an option which will make your rides convenient and affordable.

‘Your Own Ride’, a self-drive two-wheeler rental company, launched by four engineers, is now here to offer the services. The owners of the start-up were batchmates in the college and the entrepreneurship bug bit them while they were with top software companies.

Debasish Behera, Rajesh Kumar Pratihari, Rajesh Kumar Khillo and K. Siba Shankar Reddy, working at different locations, joined hands to give wings to their entrepreneurial dream.

‘Your Own Ride’, the motorbike rental company operated through online, came into existence on November 25, 2017 after a lot of struggle and brainstorming sessions.

Moroever, the start-up idea struck the four when they were in college where they used to borrow their friends’ bikes for a leisurely travel or to do some personal works. The idea took shape when their friends sometimes refused to oblige them leading to discontentment and misunderstandings.

“The main purpose behind setting up the company is to provide bikes on rent to outstation students who often ended up paying more to cabs or autowallahs which actually pinches one during college days,” said Debasish Behera, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Your Own Ride.

Based out of Bhubaneswar, the company has both normal and high-end bikes and scooters available to meet demands of various customers. Honda Hornet, Yamaha Fazer, KTM Duke -390, Thunderbird-350, Yamaha R15, Pulsar 200 NS, Hero Maestro and Yamaha Ray Z among others are now available for customers.

Four months into operation, the two-wheelers rental platform has garnered over 100 customers daily of which more than 70 per cent are outstation students.

One needs to book a bike an hour prior to the start of the journey and minimum booking hour is three hours. The charge varies from the range of vehichle hired, excluding fuel. For security purposes, the company has made it mandatory to deposit Aadhaar card, driving license before leaving the outlet.

The company has been getting good response and the trend will increase with more number of bikes in future, the four founding members feel.

“The demand for both high-end bikes and normal ones is increasing day by day and we are sure the momentum will continue if we add more bikes to the fleet,” said Rajesh Pratihari who mostly looks after operational part of the business.

He said bike is always a convenient and affordable means of transport than hiring auto or cabs. Besides, one can take his bike to exact location unlike a car which saves a lot of time.

Operating from its Patia office, the founders are planning to open another hub in the city in order to reach out to more customers.

“Through this service, people have the freedom to pick up and drop off the vehicle at their destination. The problem with the bus service is that there is no surety of frequency, and flexibility is also compromised. Our service is most suited to people, especially cost-sensitive users who look for more options,” Behera reasoned saying they are planning to expand it to other parts of the state.