SUMMARY
The service will be extended to all the railway stations of Bengaluru by 2020
Southern Railways is finalising the allotment of exclusive parking space for EVs
Bajaj Auto Limited invested $8Mn in the startup in November this year
Bengaluru-based micromobility platform Yulu has partnered with the Southern Railways. The startup will start operations by deploying 130 battery-operated two-wheelers at exclusive parking zones provided by the Southern Railways at seven stations, including Bengaluru Cantonment, Bangalore East, Whitefield, Hoodi Hault, Bellandur Road, K R Puram, and Baiyapnahhli.
The service will be extended to all the railway stations of Bengaluru by 2020. Through this collaboration, the mobility-as-a-service startup aims to provide convenient, eco-friendly and affordable first and last-mile commute to citizens travelling intercity or intracity.
“Our collaboration with Southern Railways was a logical step and a natural extension of our services. We are reinventing Bengaluru as a green silicon city of India. We are happy to witness such positive support from state-run railways,” said Hemant Gupta, cofounder and chief of operations, Yulu.
Southern Railways is finalising the allotment of exclusive parking space for EVs and Yulu is the first EV company to be permitted to operate across seven stations in Bengaluru.
With the collaboration, a large number of daily commuters will be able to avail eco-friendly battery-powered two-wheelers to reach their destinations faster. “We are delighted that Southern Railways supports our vision and mission of making the commute smart, shareable and sustainable,” Gupta added.
According to the company, the introduction of micro-mobility will save travelling time within the city and ease traffic congestion.
“Southern Railways is happy to support Yulu that is driving the country towards sustainable mobility. The foundation of our collaboration is based on providing a hassle-free alternative first and last-mile mobility solution,” said Ajay Kumar Singh, General Manager of Southern Railways.
“We begin with launching today at Bengaluru Cantonment Railway Station. We are glad to collaborate with Yulu offering a better experience in intracity travel,” Kumar added.
Two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto Limited (BAL) invested $8Mn in the startup in November this year. With the investment, Yulu announced that it would source from Bajaj electric two-wheelers, which have been codesigned and manufactured for shared micromobility.
Bajaj will also consider facilitating the vehicle finance needs of Yulu for a large scale deployment of its micromobility electric vehicles. Yulu also plans to increase its fleet size to 100K electric two-wheelers by Dec 2020. As of today, the startup has a fleet of 3000 EVs and 8500 scooters. Though the company has not taken off bicycles from the roads, it has stopped buying them as the startup plans to focus on EVs only.
Yulu was founded in 2017 by Amit Gupta along with RK Misra, Naveen Dachuri, and Hemant Gupta. The startup also launched its EV rental services for electric scooters in Delhi in September this year.
