Theft of dockless bikes like Bounce to be treated as criminal offence: B'luru police

Bounce operates dockless bike rental services and sees at least 2000 cases of theft and vandalism per month in Bengaluru.

Atom Bike Rentals

Smart mobility player Bounce which provides a dockless bike rental service has been hit by various cases of theft and vandalism. Bounce allows users to pick up and drop off scooters at designated parking spots. The company says that in Bengaluru, Bounce witnesses at least 2000 cases of theft and vandalism every month.

The company has now met with Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru and senior police officials, who have said that cases of bike vandalism and theft will be treated as a criminal offence and thoroughly investigated until the offender is penalised.

The 2000 cases per month that Bounce sees includes theft of helmets, scooter parts and vandalism.

“We are very happy with the decision taken by Mr Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, and wish to do our best to support Bengaluru City Police. We are using cutting edge technology to solve a number of problems that our customers face. This ensures that our bikes are safer and we have all relevant data on who uses our scooters where, when and how. This step by the Police will not only reduce misuse of our scooters, but also ensure that our customers have a better experience using them,” said Anil G, Co-Founder and COO, Bounce.

The company will share data of these offenders with the police. Every time a customer uses a Bounce scooter, the company captures details of the user, the ride and the bike. This also includes details about date, time, location, etc. Bounce also collects data on usage and parking pattern.

“When a Bounce bike is found damaged, parked wrongly or used for illegal purposes, Bounce is in a position to identify the users with fair accuracy. This data can be shared with the Police to assist in their investigation,” Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO and Co-Founder, Bounce said.

A user is blacklisted if he has more than three cases against him. Over the last few months, Bounce shared relevant and timely data with the police that helped them solve more than 17 cases.

Bounce says that it also has a common database with a list of offenders, who are ranked according to its behaviour rating system. “This database is shared with other mobility players and they can be barred from using the platform. We are also in conversation with financial institutions and insurance companies to impact the credit score of serial offenders,” Vivekananda adds.

On its part, Bounce has also started equipping its bikes with tilt and tow sensors. It is also making its helmets IoT enabled, which it says makes it difficult to steal them.

Currently, Bounce has dockless services only in Bengaluru and the company says that as and when it initiates dockless service in other cities, it will look at having similar discussions with the authorities in those cities.