City Beat: Chennai Metro Introduces Rent-A-Bicycle Facility [Video]

If you live in Chennai  and the Metro is your preferred mode of transport, here is some good news for you. In a bid to reduce congestion on city roads and battle the rising levels of air pollution, the Chennai Metro Rail Corporation has started offering bicycles on rent to commuters at one of its stations.
 
A commuter has to deposit Rs 3,000 to avail the facility which has been initially launched at the Ekkatuthangal Metro station. Based on the success of the pilot project, the Chennai Metro plans to extend the facility to other stations. What can act as a deterrent for commuters is the refundable security that one has to deposit for availing of the services. It is worth mentioning here that similar models were launched in national capital Delhi and information capital Bengaluru. Owing to a lukewarm response from the commuters, the Bengaluru Metro has restricted the rental bicycle facility to some locations only.
 
Meanwhile, Chennai is one of three cities that will get assistance from the Japanese government to become a Smart City. After a meeting with Japanese Ambassador to India earlier this month, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the country was interested in urban development initiatives of the Indian government and had decided to be a partner.
 
Tamil Nadu capital Chennai found a place in the first list of smart cities that was announced in January last year, and it will be able to speed up the implementation after securing Japan as its partner. The other two cities that will get support from the Japan government in their smart city initiatives are Ahmedabad and Varanasi.
 
In another development, the Tamil Nadu Housing Secretary has received a contempt of court notice from the Madras High court for failing to implement several of its orders. Housing Secretary has been asked to be present before the court on February 21 in this regard.