BICYCLE SHOPS MEETINGS AND SURVEY AUGUST 16, 2017
Notes from Meeting with Cycle Shop Owners 8 th June 2016 A meeting was organized to obtain the insights in relation to cycling trends in the city of the representatives from cycle shops and to understand their views and suggestions for the cycle plan. The inputs are summarized in this note. 1. Trend There is a trend of decrease in traditional cycling and rentals There is also a trend of increase in recreational cycling, with increase in sale and rentals of high end cycles Due to easy availability of 2-Wheelers the cyclists in the city went on decreasing. Rental cycle shop requires more space, which is not easily available in the city now. This is also one of the challenges for the rental bicycle shops in the city. 2. Customer Base There are mainly four types of customers who use cycles in Pune: Migrated labor Poor people in the city People who use cycles for recreation or as a new status symbol School students 3. Issues with rental business Damage to rental cycles and cost of repairing / maintaining Risk of theft Rent rates of traditional cycles have to be maintained low for affordability by labour class Old cycle shops don t have the skills to repair high end bicycles - they need skill upgradation Rental business requires a lot of space, which is now difficult to manage with increased cost of commercial space 4. Skill upgradation needed There is a need for training of mechanics for cycle repairing, especially for the high end bicycles repairing, as repair of these bicycles require high skills. There is a shortage of such skilled labor in the city. It is possible for a skilled mechanic to earn upto Rs 25000 per month through cycle maintenance 5. Public Bicycle System Cycle shop owners expressed their willingness to be part of PBS, provided it is economically viable for them Potential areas of engagement are o Maintenance of PBS cycles o Managing PBS stations 6. Enhancing the cycle sale and rental business Awareness campaigns for cycles are required, such campaigns can be organized area based.
Need to develop a culture of cycling only creating cycle tracks will not get non cycling people to cycle Cycle shops need different strategies for different types of customers Like automobiles there should be recognition of Authorized Service center for the cycles also. School children need training for safe cycle ride on the road, PMC should take this initiative. Awareness about wearing safety gears while cycling needs to be enhanced 7. Improved Products and Services for Cyclists The cycle kit should be portable, so that cyclist can carry it (like portable air pump) Cyclists should use the accessories for their safety, like helmets, reflectors, shops should stock these as well 8. Infrastructure There is a proposal under consideration that Laxmi Road will be walking plaza, it will be better if it becomes walking plus cycle road Strict enforcement on the cycle tracks is necessary, only cyclists should be using the tracks Continuity of the cycle tracks is necessary for the long routes School going children are the major customer base for us but there is no safety on the roads for children cycling The parking charges for 2 & 4 wheelers should be more and the collected revenue can be used for cycle infrastructure and buses Maintenance of cycle track is important, sponsors or organizations can be appointed for maintenance of these tracks, areawise. 9. Cycle Distribution PMC distributes bicycles for children in PMC schools, but many of these bicycles are sold in market later. The system can be that these bicycles can be returned to school/pmc once the child completes schooling. Schools can provide cycles for borrowing to students who need cycles (not only on merit) Cycle Shop Participants Sl Name of Shop 1. Sonawale Cycle Address of Shop Ph number E-mail Notes about business 64/499, Near Maharshi Sant Gyandev School, Pune 37 9850894041 9850838033 satishsonawale5@gmail.com Satish Sonawale Sonawale Cycle shop at Maharshi Nagar for past 55 yrs, started in 1973. Third generation into the business. In the beginning 15-20 years used to rent cycle. As per changing time, have to change and now into selling spare parts, bearings etc.
2. Surendar Cycle Baskshish S Talwar 3. Mahesh Cycle Mart Rajesh Narayane 4. Mule Cycle Mart 40/25, Karve Road, Opposite Sonal Hall, Pune 411004 Survey no 17/3 B, Salunke Vihar Road, Near Reliance Fresh, Kondwa, Wanavadi, Pune 40 171 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Pune 411001 5. Surana Cycle 743, Budhwar Peth, Pune 6. Dinesh Cycle 37/2, Shankar Sheth Road, Pune 411037 7. Cymour Cycling Services 8. Hartex Rubber Pvt Ltd Karvenagar Pune 411052 Kalyan Chamber, Raviwar Peth, Laxmi Road, Pune 9890084416 surendarcyclestores@mail.co m 9850011698 7385262624 844297510 26352213 RajeshNarayane@gmail.com (the name and surname initials were written in capital) Bakshish Singh Talwar. Has two cycle shops at Karve Road and Baner. He is in business for past 35 years and the cycle business itself is 68 years old. Shop in Kondwa, started by father now Rajesh is managing it. Earlier used to rent cycles, had about 40 cycles, now people don t take it on rent so they do not rent it anymore. Shop started in 1985 - Hemant Bajirao Mule, running business since 1959, second generation into the business. 9822072634 riteshjsurana@gmail.com Ritesh Surana, into business since 1979 0976756888 - Dinesh Khandelwal, 3 running shop since 020 1970 24435468 7722002401 cymour@gmail.co aniket@cymour.com 7875059085 9373989030 hrpl.pnq@hartex.in Aniket Mahashabde Dattatraye Borkar and Anant Ghike attended the workshop. The shop is 50-60 years old. Other Participants 1. Harshad Abhyankar ITDP 9881132370 harshad.abhyankar@itdp.org 2. Srinivas Bonala PMC 3. Sangita Desadla PMC
Bicycle Shops Survey A survey was conducted by PDA and CEE for Pune Cycle Plan to identify the Bicycle Shops in the city The audit was conducted in the months of September and October 2016. The survey was focused on the following points: 1. To identify the shops in the city, to understand their Network, the demand associated with the shops and the state of affairs. 2. To understand their expectations from Pune Cycle Plan, their awareness of city wide policies. 3. Their funding mechanisms, monthly income or dependence and their tendency to continue / terminate, cycle repair / maintenance / rental services. Methodology For the survey, an initial list of the shops and their locations was created from online sources. Further, a reference map was created based on the list, which would be used for the on-site survey. The city was divided into 10 zones for ease of survey. These zones were created based on the structure of the city, which can be divided by 9 arterial roads, surrounding the core of the city. These zones along with the above reference map were used to visit areas in the city and identify cycle shops, while updating the above list along with the shop locations to create an updated map. The survey form (refer Figure 1), consists of information regarding the type of services provided, variety of spares available, respective costs, turn over and, awareness and willing contribution towards cycle plan and initiatives. Observations During the survey, a total of 135 Cycle shops were identified, ranging from large shops to small shops, as well as high end to low end cycle shops. (Refer Figure 2). From the Survey, 1. The average sale ranges from 5 to 350 Cycles per month, depending on the scale of the shop 2. The average Income per month ranges from Rs. 2,500/- to Rs. 75,000/-. Also, 25% of the shop owners reported that they depended on other additional income sources. 3. 13 Rental Shops were identified, of which 4 provide High-end Cycles. The Rental Charges were as follows: For Low-end Cycles : Rs. 25/- to Rs. 100/- per day; with a Deposit ranging from Rs. 10/- to Rs. 100/- For High-end Cycles : Rs. 350/- to Rs. 650/- per day, Deposit Rs. 1000/- to Rs. 2500/- with ID Proof 4. Charges for Maintenance & Servicing were as follows: For Low-end Cycles: Rs. 75/- to Rs. 400/- High-end Cycles: Rs. 400/- Rs. 1800/- It was observed that the demand for Cycles was more for Kids followed by Gents, and Ladies cycles. From the total surveyed, 30% of the shop owners were aware of the PMC initiative for Pune Cycle Plan, while 85% said that they were willing to contribute to / participate in the Pune Cycle Plan During the interviews on site, with the shop owners, it was reported that the number of Cycles on streets have drastically decreased since the last 2 decades, with the rise in motorized vehicles. With decrease in number of cycles, the demand for rental cycles has also dropped. Some shops used to
rent out as many as 100 150 Cycles per day, which were generally rented by workers, but now are only limited to as many as 20 25 Cycles per day. Now a days, the shop owners have to depend on additional sources of income in order to sustain their livelihood. Many have shifted to tending puncture & repair of 2 Wheelers and 4 Wheelers, while others are following suit. It could be said that, in contrast to above shops, who generally sell and rent commuter cycles, and which may be considered as a low end market; the recent trend is shifting, where people have shown larger interest in recreational cycling. As such, it was observed that a lot of new shops with high-end cycles, like MTBs, ATBs and Hybrid Cycles are coming up in the city, which suggests rising demand for these cycles. Even though there is a rise in number of recreational cyclists, people are required to commute every day on cycle as opposed to occasional cycling on weekends. The shop locations have been mapped on Google Maps. This map with the classification of shops as per the services they provide would be of help to cyclists. It would need to be updated over time.
Figure 1: Form for Bicycle Shop Survey
Repair Retail Repair + Retail Repair + Rental Repair + Rental + Retail Figure 2: Map showing Locations of Bicycle Shops from the Survey