Every boy at some point in their life probably wanted to own a big bike, and never have that dream come true because reality happened and priorities came in, where savings got more important and owning a bike would only be possible only if you had a lot of money or if it's something you really want.
In an exclusive interview with Danish Manzoor, Executive Editor, IBT India, Vivekananda Hallekere, Co-Founder Wicked Ride and Metro Bikes, spoke about how his business is helping today's working group cope with the fast moving world with his quick rental ride option.
He also highlighted their motto of letting the dreams of youngsters come true by giving them the luxury of cruising the streets of Bengaluru or outside on a Harley or Triumph for a day or two without thinking much on EMIs and loans.
In this week's Biz Talk, Vivek pointed out the craze for owning a BMW or Harley Davidson. "I can't think of a guy who doesn't like motorcycles or cars," he said. "I just got my first job and I was always fascinated by BMW's. But, I can't afford it, neither can I pay the EMI," he added.
When asked about how the idea of Wicked Ride started he said that the traffic on Bengaluru roads got this young entrepreneur along with his friends thinking, about why bike rentals were not a big thing.
After much research, they decided to give it a shot, and start a bike rental with a pilot of two bikes. This took off really well, after they gained immediate popularity on their Facebook page and there was no turning back since then. "One thing about India is that more than 60% of the population is younger than 30 years old," he said.
Moving to a time of "instant gratification," he claimed that there is a huge population which prefers to travel rather than thinking of buying a house and settling down.
Hallekere and his partners were also inspired by their trip to Singapore where they saw that everything was so well organised, that the public transport was all they needed to help them get from point to another.
On Biz Talk, Vivek spoke about how both Wicked Ride and Metro bikes have come a long way. He said that today they serve 5 lakh riders every day, from 33 different metro station points in Bengaluru.
He also added that their vision for the next 12 months would be to put around another 28,000 scooters on the roads in Bengaluru.
When Vivek was asked about the funds raised by the company he said that there should be around 5-7 million dollars of fund raising, which they should be able to close in the next couple of months.
According to Vivek, "Women feel more comfortable on scooters, so that they don't have to deal with a bus driver or an auto driver."
His biggest competitors include these private car services like Ola and Uber. "Competing with Ola and Ola share is hard but we bring something different to the table, because we provide more flexibility," he claimed.
"A flexibility where you are your own master, which is why as previously mentioned women find this a lot more comfortable," he added.
