Bicycle sharing system of Yellow will have "guardians"

The Yellow bikes sharing startup will feature a team of "guardians" to monitor the fleet begins to circulate in Sao Paulo. The rent service, in tests since last week, was officially launched on Thursday. The company invested R $50 million to put the operation in action. The bikes run dockless model (without fixed stations). Through an application with GPS to locate the nearest unit, read the QR code for unlocking the equipment and pay for use at the end of the road. As the bikes can be removed and returned in any place, it will be up to the "keepers" collect and redistribute the units, in addition to making any adjustments. The tests started with 110 bikes circulating in neighborhoods such as Itaim Bibi, Pinheiros and Vila Olímpia. Now, 500 will run throughout the Southwest and the central capital, R $1.00 rate every 15 minutes, the equivalent of a 3 km path. It will be the largest fleet of bicycles in the city, say the founders: CEO, Eduardo Musa, the Director of products, Ariel Lambrecht, and the technology, Renato Freitas. "Let's do a gradual expansion to all parts of the city until 2019. If a bike is stopped at far site coverage, our guardians will get it. So, the paths stroked turn routes, and the longer routes, the greater our coverage and logistics strategy, "said Freitas," guardians "will be hired in peripheral neighborhoods in need of jobs and will be divided by regions. Produced in Brazil, the bikes are equipped with proximity alarm and locks together to pedal. The application reads the QR code located on the back. At first, the rider will need a credit card for payment, but the system provides for an agreement with the single ticket of SPTrans, to be signed by the end of the year. Entrepreneurs believe will come to a fleet of 100,000 units until 2019 and the 1 million until 2021, already covering other cities. According to the trio, will need a total of 120,000 hopscotch to meet the entire capital. For Eduardo Musa, the initiative creates a new transportation option in the metropolis. "Sao Paulo is the city with the largest number of requests for Uber and Waze's signature in the world. Has a very high demand for offset options. Superpopulações are trend and we have to think of ways to solve this urban congestion, "he said. The color of the bikes, in allusion to the name of the company, remember the Chinese's Ofo. Asked if the model inspired the Yellow, Musa denied. "Our inspiration comes from the visual facility, joy and life of color yellow, besides being well accepted, since there's no denotation or sports policy," he said. The Yellow also prepares a fleet of electric scooters along the same lines, but with more recreational than complementary transport. The idea will be presented next week and will be in during the month of August.