[TusharK]

Ather Energy has partnered with Bounce to launch a peer to peer (P2P) scooter sharing program in Bangalore.



Under the program, Ather 450 owners will be able to monetize the idle time of their vehicles by listing them on the Bounce App. Unlike Bounce's dockless model, the P2P scooters will be picked up and returned to the owner.

To opt for this model, customers will have to book the Ather 450 through the Bounce platform. On delivery, the commercially registered scooter can be listed on the Bounce App. Customers will be able to rent the vehicle for hours or days as listed by the owner.

The post-purchase Ather One plan has also been customized to suit the sharing model. It includes a new service and maintenance plan. These scooters will be eligible for free fast charging at 38 Ather Grid points for 1 year. The scooters will come with a portable charger.

Ather 450s for the P2P sharing program can be booked through Bounce's website for Rs. 499. The scooters will be delivered on priority basis post the ongoing lockdown.

Link to Team-BHP News

[TejasKinger]

From the looks of it, Bounce is planning to go fully electric and more asset-light. They've been circulating Google Forms using which they're selling their existing inventory of bicycles, motorized bicycles, Honda Activas, and helmets on a first-come-first-serve basis.

More details here.

[hemanth.anand]

Bounce founder Vivek had put out a tweet to gauge customer reaction to this offer...

The poll results are quite clear (the current scenario would've had a big bearing on this too).

Ather is the first vehicle under this ownership model. This mode of ownership is not for me or anyone who loves their vehicles and hates anyone touching their vehicles. But for people to whom a scooter is just a mode of transport, it may be a good way to earn some money when it's not in use. We can expect very less abuse to the scooters compared to the horrific videos of abuse of Bounce scooters we've seen because, the renter must take the vehicle from the owner and return it back to him. It is not pick and drop anywhere like normal Bounce scooters.

As per the information shared By Ather, It'll be registered as a commercial vehicle (green board yellow numerals) and because of this there will be a slight increase in the pricing (around ₹115K). Insurance and other terms must also be slightly different I guess.

Personally, I feel an ICE vehicle would've been a better start for this. Although a portable charger comes bundled with this, we need to have sufficient buffer time to overcome range anxiety and keep the battery chargedd. This will need much more planning (than if it was not shared) and the owner should expect the same from the renter too. Due to this, idle/charge time will be accounted and riding time will reduce. This will mean that the earning will be much lesser.

Zoomcar also has something similar to this IIRC. People's response to that was lukewarm. Will be interesting to see hiw people react to a two wheeler on similar terms. It had better chance to work well if there was no COVID-19 pandemic situation. Now almost all would be wary about sharing their vehicle with a stranger.

[Sk8r]

People spending approximately 1.5 Lakhs on a two wheeler will never bother about earning few hundreds or thousands by sharing their loved acquisitions

Not sure what business sense does this make especially given the current scenario where anything " SHARED " is scary

[libranof1987]

Quite an inopportune time for such a collaboration. Not only would people be avoiding sharing personal space with a stranger for quite some time to come, several people would be looking at getting their own vehicle (especially those who use public transport for office commute). How many of these are potentially Ather buyers is debatable.

Regardless, Ather would do well to focus on expanding in other metros, given the good name they've built for themselves, than invest in an idea which has generally been abused (example, all those cycles that are dumped all over towns).

Also, when people didn't warm up to buying cars to put on Zoomcar, why are they bullish on people spending over a lakh on a scooter that is used by several people a day. Barring Goa, that business model is non-existent!

[am1m]

Even before the covid situation, how many people would be comfortable with putting their expensive Athers (or any personal use bike/car) up for use by strangers?! Especially after seeing how rental scooters are just parked anywhere and abused?!

Am wondering what I'm missing here, surely the business brains behind this idea cannot be that oblivious to what happens to rental scooters in our cities.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by am1m

Am wondering what I'm missing here, surely the business brains behind this idea cannot be that oblivious to what happens to rental scooters in our cities.

As simple as this. The same business brains have come across the widest forms of abuse to their existing Bounce scooters. I was following the tweets by the Bounce founder during the lockdown and it was all over the place with different kind of questions asked and most of the results were not to their favour. After all that, they sprung up with this idea and I really cant think of who will agree to such a scheme, especially with an EXPENSIVE scooter like the Ather and during the times of the Covid crisis. Also, their own fleet is currently lying idle from the last two months, with some scooters offered to different sections of people ranging from frontline workers to delivery boys.

Prior to this, they had offered to mediate between two wheeler owners and essential service workers so that they could offer their scooters which were unused. I dont think this idea clicked as well. Maybe the management was asked to come up with such proposals during the WFH period and such wacky ideas came up

Personally, if I buy an Ather, I am going to treat it like a superbike since its a super-scooter.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I was following the tweets by the Bounce founder during the lockdown and it was all over the place with different kind of questions asked and most of the results were not to their favour.

Maybe the management was asked to come up with such proposals during the WFH period and such wacky ideas came up

Hmmm, perhaps this is just some PR idea then. Anything with the word 'covid' in it will gather eyeballs and clicks so why not just float some twitter polls and things and keep the company brand in the news somehow. Very similar things happening with bollywood and cricket stars, most newspapers are carrying 'xyz actresses's lockdown routine/look', 'abc cricket star's covid fitness mantra/look, etc.' All planted to look like 'news'!