A New way to move around the city | Vivekanada Hallekere | TEDxBMSITM
## Speaker Context - Role: Presenter at an event detailing work at "Bounce." - Setting/Occasion: Presenting findings on shared mobility. - Framing: Believes shared mobility is going to "save the world" and make the world a better place. ## People - Speaker: (Identity not explicitly stated, but associated with "Bounce"). ## Organizations - Bounce: Company presenting work on shared mobility. ## Places - India: Country setting, characterized by over a billion people and high density. - United States of America: Comparison point; described as being seven times larger than India but with a lesser population. - Bangalore: City in India, mentioned as an example of massive urbanization; previously a place of study/recollection. - Pune: City in India mentioned as a destination for people moving from Bangalore. - Mumbai: City in India used for map analysis regarding land use. - Delhi: City in India mentioned in the context of pollution. - Canada: Country mentioned regarding where people might end up in Bangalore/Pune/Mumbai. ## Tools, Tech & Products - 2-wheelers: Personal vehicles, used in India; the largest two-wheeler market. - 4-wheelers: Personal vehicles. - Metro: Mass transit system; mentioned as a potential solution but not always viable. - Electric scooters: Type of shared mobility vehicle; built in India starting from March. - Keyless system: Mechanism for vehicle access; uses the cell phone for authentication. - GPS track: Technology used for location tracking of vehicles. ## Concepts & Definitions - Shared mobility: The core topic; presented as super important for the economy and the world. - Central business district (CBD): Area focusing on the center of a city, where people live in suburbs and commute to work. - Massive urbanization: Process where people from smaller towns move to cities to search for livelihood in India. - Fundamental right: The speaker asserts that mobility "has to be seen as a fundamental right." - Asset safety: One of the three things needed for shared mobility success. - Trust: Another crucial element for shared mobility adoption. ## Numbers & Data - More than a billion people: Population of India. - Seven times larger: Comparison of US area to India area. - 2002: Year the speaker first came to Bangalore. - 3 million people: Number of people moved daily by Bangalore BMRCL (Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited). - 6,500 buses: Total functional fleet of buses in Bangalore (as of the speaker's knowledge). - 3 to 5 million people: Number of people moved daily by the bank of public transport in the US or Europe (compared to Bangalore). - 1.35 billion people: Number of people to whom the right to access mobility must be given. - 3 to 4 kilometers: Distance for an example involving a maid relocating. - 99.99% of the times: Percentage that a maid can't relocate if she has to stay close to where the employer stays. - 150 million: Approximate number of two-wheelers in India. - 25 million: Number of two-wheelers added annually in India. - 20%: Percentage of land mass taken up by parking in Mumbai (according to the map analysis). - 52% of the population: Percentage of Mumbai population living within 9.25 km of the landmass. - 100 people: Capacity moved by a bus in the context of Bangalore's dedicated bus lanes. - 20 people: Number of people who can use the same scooter at different points in time/places (as opposed to one person per scooter). - 18 months: Time period since Bounce started operating in Bangalore. - Three million plus rides: Number of rides completed in Bangalore per month by Bounce. - 120,000 rides: Approximate number of rides per day by Bounce in Bangalore. ## Claims & Theses - Shared mobility is going to save the world and make world a better place. - Shared mobility is super important and critical for both the economy and how the world revolves. - The problem of congestion will not get solved on its own because the population is growing. - Mobility has to be seen as a fundamental right. - The amount of work a maid can do totally depends on how much time she has to travel and where the work is. - Owning personal vehicles (two or four wheelers) is not the solution. - If the government gave free two-wheelers or four-wheelers to everyone, the problem would not be solved because there isn't enough space to move or park. - Bangalore will not be the most preferred place of work for anyone in the next few years if shared mobility is ignored. - Shared mobility should not only be considered scooters or cars, but a "whole gamut of things." - The current shared mobility in India is probably not very organized, scalable, or transparent because it is done in pockets. - India is innovating on how to move people from point A to point B in ways that are not copy-paste solutions. - One scooter can be used by 20 people. - The economic model makes sense when the system is electric because there are no worries about fuel or servicing. - The problem of mobility is going to be there forever, starting from the time the wheel was invented. ## Mechanisms & Processes - City development models: One focuses on the CBD with people living in suburbs (Western model); the other involves the whole city growing vertically (implied contrast). - Massive urbanization process: People move from smaller towns to cities searching for livelihood. - Bike/Maid mobility dependency: The earning potential of the maid depends on the proximity of available workplaces to her residence. - Shared mobility execution (Bounce): Users find a scooter on the app $\rightarrow$ Book the scooter $\rightarrow$ Get access to the vehicle (keyless, via IoT) $\rightarrow$ Ride $\rightarrow$ Leave it in a legal parking space $\rightarrow$ Walk around. - Solving location tracking: One iteration involved asking users to take a photo of the scooter and type the landmark for the next user. ## Timeline & Events - Before 2002: The speaker had a baseline memory of Bangalore's traffic (one signal from hospital to college). - 2002: Speaker arrived in Bangalore. - Today: Current status of urban mobility challenges and Bounce's operations. ## Examples & Cases - Western city model (Seattle): People live in suburbs and commute to a CBD. - Bangalore development: Described as "never planned"; early traffic consisted of one signal. - Maid relocation scenario: Illustrates how limited mobility restricts earning potential to a local area. - Parking analysis map: Demonstrated that 20% of Mumbai's landmass is taken up by parking, while only 52% of the population lives within 9.25 km. - Personal car usage: Example of one person taking their own car when going toward India (implied destination). - Lack of pooling products: Example where three seats are empty in a vehicle, wasting space. - Gas distribution network: Used as a historical comparison to India's established system for liquid fuel delivery, comparing it to modern battery swapping. - Bounce operation scale: Operating close to three million rides per month in Bangalore. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - Building city focus: Central Business District vs. letting the city grow over the entire area. - Personal vehicle ownership: Buying two or four wheelers (easy way, but leads to space/congestion problems). - Public transport investment: Building metros (requires billions of dollars, not always right for every city size) vs. innovative solutions like dedicated bus lanes. - Vehicle sharing: Allowing 20 people to use one scooter vs. one person owning one scooter. - Mobility energy source: Personal vehicle use vs. electric mobility. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The speaker acknowledges that simply providing free vehicles (e.g., from the government) does not solve the underlying problem of space/congestion. - The speaker hedges by saying that the metropolitan rail solution (metro) is "not always the right solution for every city size." - The speaker notes that the concept of "sharing" is not new to India, stating, "we have always been sharing whatever." ## Methodology - Visual Analysis: Using a map analysis of Mumbai to demonstrate land-use inefficiency (parking vs. human habitation). - Comparative Analysis: Comparing India's situation to Western urban planning models (Seattle). - Iterative Problem Solving: Describing the process of improving scooter tracking, moving from basic tech to photo/landmark tagging. ## References Cited - No external books, papers, or prior speakers were cited. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The necessity of shared mobility to prevent city collapse. - Thinking of multiple, co-existing solutions for India, rather than a single "copy paste solution." - To enable shared mobility, one must "build asset safety" and "build trust." - Innovation must move beyond just addressing congestion to solve "real life problems" (e.g., interest-based pooling). - Need to focus on making the entire system "enable access to vehicle." ## Implications & Consequences - If shared mobility fails, Bangalore will not be the most preferred place of work for investors or talent. - The problem of mobility is "going to be there forever." - The consequence of ignoring spatial limitations is dedicating excessive space to parking rather than human use. ## Open Questions - How to solve for morbidity and congestion because the problem will persist. ## Verbatim Moments - "I'll just explain why we think shared mobility is super important super critical for both the economy and how how the world revolves." - "Nobody has to be seen like a fundamental right fundamental right like how we are right to speak right to get educated." - "This problem of congestion will not get solved on its own." - "If we leave Bangalore Aziz for next few years i think Bangalore will not be the most preferred place of work for anyone be it investors breed for talent." - "where the center of the city it's always vertical so you can provide first my last mile walking everything and it can be sorted." - "so sharing is not very new thing for india right as and we have always been sharing whatever." - "we don't have enough space enough space to move on the roads or enough space to even park." - "This is a form factor which is already there no innovation on the scooter no innovation on saying that okay you should use scooter people who are already using scooter what we've what we've done is saying that hey you don't have to buy a scooter to go from point a to point b one scooter can be used by 20 people." - "the problem on mobility is going to be there forever so please think on this this is the last problem and the solutions are never enough with this."