Making Mobility a Fundamental Right

A Case Study by Bounce

About Bounce
Bounce is a mobility company working on a mission of
making daily commute stress-free, timesaving, reliable
and convenient for its users. Since the launch of its
keyless and dockless scooters in October 2018 Bounce
has accelerated to become one of the fastest growing
mobility start-ups in the world – in just 10 months, by
July 2019, Bounce clocked 60,000 rides in a day.

Wicked Rides, the parent company of Bounce, was founded in 2014 by Vivek HR, Varun Agni
and Anil G. They offered people a chance to ride their favourite luxury motorbikes on a rental
basis. Started with a small fleet of 8 which included the newly launched Harley Davidson Street
750, Wicked Rides quickly grew to a sizeable business.

In early 2016, when the Bengaluru metro railway line had just come up, the team of founders
were discussing metro as a mobility option for commuters, Vivek remembers the discussion,
“…that was also the time Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek had raised its first big round ($550
million). Over prolonged discussions, we realised that the first mile and the last mile were always going
to be a problem in cities where metro railway was just taking shape. We also happened to bump into a
report about the Delhi metro railway, where even with 180 kilometres of metro railway lines, the average
first- and last-mile was about six kilometres. Suddenly, we realised that we were staring at a potential
billion-dollar opportunity.”

The idea for Bounce was forming, the founding team started exploring various taxi models and
concluded that in this equation driver is a fungible resource, Vivek recollects thinking, “.... we
will have to fight for this resource with other industries like food delivery and e-commerce industry. Also,
it is by now an established pattern that drivers do not remain on these jobs for long. In scooter taxis, the
driver is not a convenience but a friction point from all perspectives -- for us as a business as well as for
the customer in terms of sharing a small real estate with a stranger. Besides, the risk levels were very
high. However, once we remove the driver from the equation, we realised that economics is not the only
thing that improves.” The team started exploring the opportunity and looked at various models
to make the process seamless for the user. They experimented with key dispensers, docks and
roundtrips before realising that these methods weren’t scalable. This tinkering led to the birth of
India’s first keyless and dockless mobility solution, Bounce, where you book a ride on the app,
pick up the bike, enter the OTP, ride to the destination and move on!
Case Overview
In a country where less than twenty percent of the population has access to personal mobility,
Bounce provides a much needed first and last mile solution. More than forty percent of the rides
either start or end at a metro station making Bounce truly a first and last mile solution for its
users. At an average consumer price of roughly ₹3.25 per person per km on a twin sharing
basis, Bounce is fast becoming an alternative mobility option for the masses.

With a breakthrough technology that lets users access the bike with just an OTP, Bounce’s state-
of-the-art keyless bikes, have not only done away with keys, but the whole process of renting a
bike has just become devoid of any physical or human intervention. This lack of human
intervention makes Bounce very different from a marketplace model and in an operations
intensive industry a lot of things must be done at the backend to ensure seamless service –
servicing of bikes, check for theft and vandalism, patrolling for wrong parking etc. To get access
to parking spaces Bounce has tied up public and private institutions alike, Vivek explains, “we
have exclusive access to parking spaces in Bengaluru metro railway stations and wherever there is paid
parking, we have arranged with them as well. In tech parks, companies like SAP Labs, Sasken
Technologies and Mercedes-Benz have created dedicated parking spaces for us, recognising our value.”

Bounce experiences near peak level demand throughout the day with midnight to 6 AM being
the only non-peak hours. Over the last year, management at Bounce has been pleasantly
surprised by the use cases which they have seen. The start-up has been empowering women,
who constitute more than 25 percent of its users. About eight percent of these rides are
homemakers who use Bounce scooters for their day-to-day activities. With a Bounce bike
available in under 5 min walking distance across most of Bengaluru, the service is being used
by people from all walks of life, including IT professionals, homemakers, college students,
elderly and self-employed. Bounce has been a boon for the people coming into India’s
technological hub by helping them commute and providing an affordable access to livelihood.

Bounce has sustainability at its core, the bikes help in reducing congestion as each Bounce bike
approximately removes 6.5 bikes from the roads. This reduces not only the number of vehicles
on the roads, but also the carriage space for seamless commuting. If 1 out of every 3 rides is
made on a Bounce bike, instead of using private means of transport, it is estimated that this
would help reduce Bengaluru's carbon emission by 2.1 Million KG CO2. With the impending
foray into electric vehicles Bounce is on the path to make an even more significant contribution
in saving the environment.
Problem statement/Expected Outcome
Senior management at Bounce wants to explore avenues to further reduce the cost for its users
and truly democratise access to mobility. The team has identified two key areas to focus – a)
increase revenues by monetising its assets and, b) increase utilisation of assets. In the past
Bounce has tied up with Swiggy to explore avenues for increasing utilization of its bikes. There
are many such alliance opportunities available for Bounce and the ever-expanding fleet of
scooters presents an asset waiting to be monetised. Put yourself in the CEOs position and help
him by answering these questions:

 Clearly identify alliance opportunities through which Bounce can unlock alternative sources
of revenue. Prioritise them and project revenue potential for FY 19-20.
 How can Bounce maximise the utilisation of its fleet of over 10,000 bikes? Can you identify
other opportunities, along with their revenue potential, for Bounce to increase asset
utilisation?

Leverage case facts as well as facts available on digital portals for final recommendations.

Format
 The case analysis document must be in MS Word/PDF format (.doc/.docx/.pdf)
 Must not exceed 2000 words (excluding exhibits and excel sheets)
 Font Type: Arial/ Calibri with text size of 11

References
 CEOs interview
 World’s fastest mobility start-up
 Swiggy Partnership