In the ever growing economy of India and the service sector becoming increasingly potent in the market, flourishing in the midst of risks yet reaping bounties that was only a dream is now the way to go for the ones who'd like to think out of the box.
WheelStreet is a culmination of young ideas brought to light by the growing dependence of renting a two-wheeler for personal use. Although the Rent-a-bike concept has been prevailing in India for a long time, the management of operations and the non-availability of bikes as such have clearly left the space stagnant. WheelStreet is a service that aims at resolving the issues and provide hassle free usage of the scooter/bike on rent. The three youngsters that perservered to make their ideas materialize are Pranay Srivastava, Moksha Srivastava and Mrityunjay Jha. The process of renting vehicles in India has largely been offline and it certainly did not offer any assurance of service or wasn't user-friendly. WheelStreet offers an online platform by creating a database of vendors in the area and providing information regarding the available bikes with each vendor to the customer. Such a process eliminates the problem of unavailability and the bike will be delivered at a certain spot once payment has been made and details transferred.
Bookings can be done through internet transaction or Credit/Debit cards. Daily rates of each bike are displayed on the website and this is another feature that is in contrast to the conventional method of bike renting where the customer may be asked to pay according to the rates that are not fixed by the vendor. Clear and set guidelines are issued on the payment, delivery and usage of its services and is strikingly transparent and easy to use for anyone willing to go on a ride. Bikes ranging from the basic commuter bikes to the largely popular and head turner bikes like the Harley Davidson, Suzuki Hayabusa, the Kawasaki Ninja are listed on their website. The company follows a strict rule of checking the condition of each bike before making it to the list on the website which is evidence that the company aims at customer satisfaction and providing top notch quality services.
More than 1700 bikes are listed on the website and the company receives a sumptuous 900 bookings on a monthly basis. Launched in June 2014, the company is currently limited to the city of Delhi but will soon be planning on reaching out to other potential states and cities. The startup company is being incubated by Grabhouse, another rental service provider. The advisory board of WheelStreet includes the team of co-founders from Grabhouse as well. Initial investment is much needed to engage in operations for such services, however, the culmination of ideas and clever thinking and the appropriate help at the right time has certainly made WheelStreet shine in the spotlight amidst the growing space of rental services. E-vending has turned out to be one of the most exciting yet competitive segment in India but still has a long way to go to reach out to the people and also enabling it to become easily accessible and affordable.