Rapid urbanisation, traffic gridlocked cities and inadequate mass transit options in India are leading to the spectre of deteriorating traffic congestion in cities. Shared mobility on two wheels is evolving and increasingly making its presence felt in some key Indian cities.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has joined hands with Vogo, the gearless scooter rental platform, for a new ride with the aggregator in the shared mobility space. Vogo, at present, has over 100 pickup points across Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Vogo's fleet of over 1,500 scooters comprising India's best-selling scooter, the Activa 5G. HMSI has delivered 200 units in Hyderabad and 300 units in Bangalore.

Announcing the tie-up in Bangalore yesterday were Yogesh Mathur, Regional Head, South region - Sales, HMSI and Padmanabhan B, founder of Vogo.

Elaborating on the trends in the shared mobility segment,  Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior VP (Sales and Marketing), HMSI, said: “Scooters are universally accepted due to their unisex appeal, comfort and convenience. Honda being is being increasingly inducted by various shared mobility companies in their fleet. We thank Vogo for choosing Honda to be a partner for the latest fleet expansion and wish them success.”

Honda recently delivered 3,000 units to one of the major aggregators in South India. From an initial business with 10 shared mobility players in 2014, Honda is now partnering over 30 shared mobility players operating in key towns like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon and Goa.

 Speaking on the occasion, Vogo's Padmanabhan B said, "We are excited to be working with a world class automobile manufacturer, like Honda, on our growth journey. We are building a strong network of scooters, being the preferred choice of shared mobility customers, that will solve traffic and congestion in large Indian cities and make daily commute easy and hassle-free.”