Aitizaz Hassan

The working people in Pakistan are daily exposed to an unbearable hike in fuel prices, rising levels of environmental pollution and rampant gridlocks resulting from high traffic density. In this challenging scenario, EzBike comes as a modest solution for the working people to reach their workplaces on time without having to spend much on the fuel, reports WealthPK.

Talking to WealthPK, Muhammad Hadi, CEO and Co-founder of EzBike, said EzBike was inspired by the rapid growth of scooter sharing services across the world.

He said they knew that there was a desperate need for transportation in Pakistan and realized that the scooter sharing business model applied abroad was well suited to Pakistani cities, especially because of their population density. Their objective is to offer the most affordable, convenient, and environment-friendly mode of transportation available in the country.

“We have around 150,000 clients. EzBike’s role in helping women to go to their workplaces and universities is something we are particularly proud of. There might be more rides by women on EzBike in a given month than on the conventional two-wheelers. Our user base is heavily skewed towards males, which reflects our societal norms. Women constitute around 10% of our users,’’ the EzBike CEO said.

Talking to WealthPK, Amna Khursheed, a working woman, said she came from G-10 to the Blue Area every day covering a distance of around 10 kilometers. The Metro Bus Station is far from her home and the office. Besides this factor, the conventional public transport is slow, messy and crowded. She came to know about EzBike through the social media. Now she hires an EzBike through an app on her cell phone somewhere near her home.

Hadi said EzBike was 30% cheaper than conventional motorcycle services on average.

“Our cities have some of the worst air quality in the world. Studies suggest that 60% of emissions come from the transport sector. Within transportation, most of the emissions are caused by motorcycles, firstly because they outnumber cars by 6:1, and secondly because they are subject to lower emission standards. Some studies suggest that motorcycles can create up to 10 times as much emissions as cars in an average urban kilometer, especially when it comes to non-carbon toxic emissions,’’ Hadi said.

“By comparison, electric scooters like our EzBikes create zero direct emissions. That’s why as a nation we need to work towards adopting a clean means of transportation like the EzBike. The electrification of our two-wheeler market will massively improve the air quality in our cities. The service is extremely popular in Islamabad, and achieves a certain vitality every time we open a new area of operation.’’

“Interestingly, we have also received a lot of inquiries from individuals and businesses interested in purchasing our scooters. These inquiries have increased notably in volume and seriousness along with fuel prices over the last couple of years. So, we have decided to respond to them by launching our own brand of electric scooters for sale. We are working on a launch and will announce some exciting offers for the business customers soon.’’

“The ICT administration, especially the police, supports our mission. I think this is because they realize that we are helping the city residents by providing them with an affordable and convenient mode of transportation,” Hadi said.

He said they planned to begin selling their scooters in other cities soon, so the people will start to see them on the streets around the country in early 2023. He said recently they expanded their sharing service to the NUST campus and Bahria Town in Islamabad and expect to selectively reach other communities around the country over time.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk