Trin Trin Goes Silent: Why Mysuru Lost Its Green Bicycles
On 1 November, India's first city-wide public bicycle service stopped after nine years. The same week, a Mysuru cycle track was dug up for road works. A curious young learner who rode Trin Trin to college asks what went wrong. A wise mentor who has watched many good ideas come and go explains.
curious young learner, rode Trin Trin to college
wise mentor, has seen many city schemes rise and fall
WHAT HAPPENEDThe last ride
The bell rings for the last time
31 October 2026
MyByk Trin Trin, run by Greenpedia Bike Share Pvt Ltd, stopped after 31 October. Its docking stations are already being taken down across the city.
Why, officially
Company staff told Star of Mysore it "could no longer bear the continuing operational losses", even though people liked it. The city manager called it a temporary suspension.
ZappyI rode those green cycles to Manasagangotri! If people liked it, how did it lose money?
Prof. BoltBeing liked and paying the bills are two different things, Zappy. Let's start at the beginning.
2017: India goes first
Launched 4 June 2017
India's first city-wide public bicycle sharing system, planned by Karnataka's Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and Mysuru City Corporation (MCC).
Who paid to start it
Funded partly by a World Bank-managed Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant, with MCC and the state.
How it worked
450 cycles across 48–52 docks at launch: Palace, railway station, bus stand, Kukkarahalli Lake and more.
The ridership roller-coaster
Daily use over the years (various reports)
Users or rides per day. Star of Mysore, WRI India, Down To Earth (2025: 33,462 rides a month ÷ 30, our arithmetic).
The fan club
Lifetime subscribers by 2026. In its first 18 months alone, riders covered about 11 lakh km.
Who rode
Mostly students and tourists, plus some office-goers and daily-wage earners. Down To Earth found locals and office commuters used it less.
Same week: a cycle track disappears
Vishwamanava Double Road
The cycle track was dug up for "white-topping", which means laying a concrete layer over the road. Residents called it taxpayers' money down the drain.
Mysuru's cycle tracks
Built by MCC. By mid-2025, vendors had removed the bollards on parts of it, and two-wheelers were parking on it (Down To Earth).
MCC Commissioner M.K. Savitha says the track will be rebuilt after the road work is done.
WHY IT MATTERSWhat really went wrong
The money leak
The price puzzle
The first ride was free in 2017. When a ₹5 fee came in from December 2017, users fell by half, the then Deputy Commissioner said. Free 30-minute rides were brought back.
By 2025 (Down To Earth)
- ₹30 for the first hour, then ₹10 an hour
- ₹99 a day, ₹499 a week
- ₹1,699 a month
The vandal problem
Star of Mysore reported rising theft, stripped parts and abandoned cycles as a "serious threat" to the service.
Too thin to work
| City | Shared cycles per sq km | Per 1,000 people | Trips per cycle per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copenhagen | 53 | 6.5 | 7 |
| Antwerp | 20 | 8.1 | 5.6 |
| New York | 15 | – | – |
| London | 7.3 | – | – |
| Mysuru | 4 | 0.5 | ~2 |
GIZ 2021 report, quoted by Down To Earth (2025). Good practice is a dock every 250–500 m.
Prof. BoltBike-share is like a bus network. If the next dock is too far, people don't trust it. If they don't trust it, they don't use it. Then each cycle earns too little.
The plan that never came
Phase 2 was meant to double the fleet to 1,000 cycles and 100 docks. In 2025, the fleet was still about 500.
India's bike-share graveyard
Ofo (2018)
The Chinese giant launched in 7 Indian cities in January 2018 and shut its India operations by July, despite raising $866 million that March.
Mobike, Zoomcar PEDL
Mobike put 3,000 cycles in Pune in 2018, then its India head left. Zoomcar's PEDL cycles shut in 2019.
Bengaluru
About three years after the public scheme launched, Deccan Herald said bicycles were "extinct" from its roads. Yulu switched from cycles to electric scooters in 2019.
Trin Trin outlived almost all of them. Nine years is a long run in India's bike-share world.
THE DEEP DIVEThe research behind the headlines
Does bike-share ever pay for itself?
| System | Share of running cost paid by riders |
|---|---|
| Washington DC (Capital Bikeshare) | ~90% |
| Chicago (Divvy) | 80% |
| Denver (2013) | 64% |
| Boulder, Colorado | 30–40% |
ITDP Bikeshare Planning Guide, UNC and Tucson feasibility study. This share is called "farebox recovery".
The running cost (ITDP)
Roughly US$900–3,500 per cycle per year for repairs, staff, software and trucks to move cycles between docks.
The rule
ITDP says most publicly funded dock-based systems don't cover their running costs from fees alone, just like most bus and metro systems.
Prof. BoltNobody asks a city bus to make a profit. Somehow we expected a cycle to. (Opinion)
The Indian maths, worked out
Pune's 2017 plan (WRI India)
- First-year running cost: ₹12–17 crore
- First-year fare income: ~₹4 crore
- Gap per cycle: ₹27,000+ in year 1, about ₹16,000 by year 7
Apply that to Trin Trin (our rough estimate)
Using Pune's numbers as a stand-in; Trin Trin's own accounts aren't public.
Put in context
That yearly gap is less than 7% of the ~₹20 crore Mysuru spent to start the system (our arithmetic).
Building it was the expensive part. Keeping it alive was the cheap part nobody budgeted for.
Mysuru's road reality
Vehicles vs people (Down To Earth, 2025)
Most vehicles are two-wheelers. Bars not to scale for cycles.
Short trips everywhere
About 35% of vehicle trips in India are under 5 km, and most bike-share rides are about 2 km (WRI India). That's exactly cycle distance.
The bus picture
Mysuru has 438 diesel city buses, with 160 electric buses planned under the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme. Shared cycles were meant to be the last link from bus stop to door.
What the world's winners did differently
Dense networks
Copenhagen has 13 times Mysuru's cycles per sq km, so each cycle is used about 7 times a day, not 2.
Safe lanes first
A city commissioner told Down To Earth in 2025 that cycle infrastructure must come first. Mysuru has under 9 km of tracks, and some are blocked or dug up.
Steady public money
ITDP says gaps are usually filled by city funds, sponsors and advertising, often money raised from parking and car charges.
ZappySo Trin Trin didn't fail because Mysureans hate cycling?
Prof. BoltNo. 20,000 people signed up. It failed because it stayed small, had few safe lanes and was asked to pay for itself.
WHAT NEXTProf. Bolt's three endings, and Zappy's plan
Three endings for Trin Trin (opinion)
Comeback: MCC finds a new operator with steady yearly support, adds e-cycles and more docks near bus stops, and rebuilds the tracks properly.
Private only: the city lets app-based e-scooter or e-cycle firms take over, the way Bengaluru did. Convenient, but pricier and less "public".
Gone for good: the docks rust, the ₹20 crore start-up money is written off, and cycling stays a weekend hobby.
Prof. BoltMy bet: a smaller e-cycle comeback within a year or two, if the city treats it like a bus service, not a business. The temporary tag gives some hope.
So what should Zappy do?
For your commute
- For trips under 5 km, a cycle costs almost nothing to run.
- Pair a cycle with the city bus for longer trips.
- Lock it well; theft is a real problem.
As a citizen
- Ask your ward councillor or MCC to rebuild the cycle tracks properly, as promised.
- Report vendors or parking on cycle lanes.
- If a new bike-share comes, use it and give feedback in the first months.
ZappySo I buy an old cycle, and I nag MCC about the lanes?
Prof. BoltExactly. Cities build what people ask for loudly.
Fridge-door cheat sheet
What happened
- Trin Trin, India's first city bike-share, stopped after 31 Oct 2026.
- 9 years, 20,000+ subscribers.
- Reason: running losses.
- Same week: a cycle track dug up.
Deep dive
- Mysuru: 4 cycles per sq km vs Copenhagen 53.
- ~2 trips per cycle a day vs 7.
- Most public bike-shares need public money.
- Likely gap: ~₹1 crore a year (rough estimate).
- Ofo, Mobike and others quit India.
Your move
- Cycle + bus for short trips.
- Push MCC on the tracks.
- Report blocked lanes.
- Back any comeback early.
Zappy and Prof. Bolt are made-up characters; the data and events are real. Sources: Star of Mysore (Trin Trin shutdown, 30 Oct 2026; cycle track, 31 Oct 2026; 18-month figures; theft reports), News Karnataka (shutdown, 31 Oct 2026), Citizen Matters, Open magazine, The Better India and India Environment Portal (launch, funding, ~₹20 crore), Deccan Herald (fee change and user drop; Bengaluru bike-share), WRI India 2021 (ridership, Pune costs, short trips), Down To Earth 2025 (fleet, fees, GIZ density comparison, vehicles, buses), ITDP Bikeshare Planning Guide (operating costs, farebox recovery), UNC and Tucson feasibility study (US recovery rates), Inc42, The Ken and YourStory (Ofo, Mobike, Yulu, PEDL). Rough estimates and percentages are our own arithmetic. Figures rounded. The three endings are opinion.