When the Commonwealth Games arrive in Ahmedabad in 2030, the city will face a basic challenge — how to move large numbers of people across congested roads in sweltering heat. Public cycling was seen as part of the solution. For now, however, the city’s Public Bicycle Sharing System (PBSS) remains largely confined to leisure riding rather than everyday commuting.A 2025-26 academic study, ‘Ridership Analysis of the Public Bicycle Sharing System in Ahmedabad’, shows why. Over one year, the city logged 5.77 lakh PBSS trips across 253 docking stations. More than half of those rides — 3.17 lakh, or 55% — involved no actual movement from one station to another. Riders borrowed a bicycle and returned it to the same dock, a pattern researchers classify as “zero displacement”.The study was conducted by Tothad Sattarsad Shagufta, Dimpu Byalal Chindappa and Seelam Srikanth of the School of Civil Engineering at REVA University in Bengaluru. It found that short-term hourly and daily passes account for 87.3% of all trips, while longer subscriptions of three to 12 months make up just 4.93%, clearly showing the system’s tilt toward “occasional use”.“Leisure trips happen because that’s when the roads are devoid of traffic,” said Arjit Soni, founder of MYBYK, the sole PBSS operator in Ahmedabad, which manages a fleet of over 10,000 bicycles. The system performs poorest during the morning rush between 6am and 9am — a window that still accounts for 30% of daily ridership — when traffic and safety concerns deter regular commuters. To address gaps, MYBYK has begun placing electric bicycle docks inside offices and residential societies to tackle first-mile connectivity.Cost is another barrier. A standard pedal bicycle costs Rs 50 per trip, while an electric cycle costs Rs 150 for just 15 minutes. A transport expert attributed the pricing “to the absence of govt subsidies, pointing out that operators must install digital hardware on every cycle for tracking and access”. Without financial support from the city, he said, “the system remains out of reach for many potential users”.PBSS access is also smartphone-dependent, excluding school students and others without app access. Soni has urged the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to integrate PBSS with the National Common Mobility Card and absorb part of the revenue risk. One proposal would bundle a Rs 20 BRTS ticket with a Rs 10 add-on allowing 12 hours of bicycle use.Weather patterns further shape ridership. Usage peaks at 68,529 rides in March but drops to 32,154 in Aug during monsoon. Yet, the study highlights untapped potential. Nearly 73% of trips — over 4.24 lakh rides — already exceed 5km, suggesting strong commuter demand. For Soni, however, infrastructure remains decisive.
