Delhi-based startup Pillion Rides kickstarts India’s first e-bike taxi service The company is on a mission to help the city fight air pollution and enable last-mile connectivity with its fleet of eco-friendly electric bikes. Focusing on the go-green concept, the brand has witnessed a five-fold revenue growth and completed 1.73 lakh rides so far. According to a recent Greenpeace report listing the 20 most polluted cities in India, Delhi tops the chart with PM10 concentration of 268 micrograms per cubic metres. Numerous efforts have been taken from time to time by environmentalists as well as by the government to remove the tag of India’s most polluted city. In 2015, Delhi’s ruling AAP government launched the odd-even traffic rule to put a check on the city’s alarming traffic and pollution rate. However, Delhi residents, who were heavily dependent on private vehicles for last-mile connectivity, suffered. Taking a cue from the hassles faced during the initiative, three professionals embarked on a journey to bridge the last-mile connectivity gap with eco-friendly options, giving birth to Pillion Rides. Initially launched as Prompto, Pillion Rides started its journey on April 2016 with a fleet of 20 battery-operated bikes and 25 riders. The brand’s co-founders, Nikhil Malik, Karan Chadha and Pawneesh Rampal, bring aboard business acumen and industry experience. Nikhil is a serial entrepreneur, who has founded businesses around manufacturing of machine components. Karan has earlier worked in the commodities sector and other organisations. Pawneesh has around 11 years in corporate finance and was associated with brands like Hero FinCorp and Yes Bank, among others.
Focused on providing last-mile connectivity, Pillion Rides is available for local commuters from bus stops, metro stations for a radius of five km and charges Rs five/km. Today, the brand has 40 bikes that operate from Delhi’s Karol Bagh and Jhandewalan areas, helping passengers commute locally in the city’s central and western areas. The brand has ordered