A BRIEF STUDY ON BICYCLE

RENTAL BUSINESS IN KOHIMA

Project report submitted to Nagaland University in partial fulfillment

for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Commerce

AKHRUZO KEZO

Department of Commerce

KOHIMA COLLEGE

Kohima 797001

2022

1
 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

KOHIMA COLLEGE KOHIMA-797001

NAGALAND

DECLARATION
Date:

I declare that the project report entitled “A Brief Study on Bicycle Rental Business in
Kohima” submitted by me for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Commerce of
Nagaland University is my own work. The project report has not been submitted for
any other degree of this University or any other university.

AKHRUZO KEZO

CERTIFICATE

I forward this project report to be placed before the examiners for evaluation.

NGIPLON RACHEL CHOHWANGLIM

Supervisor

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to my institutional

guide MissNgiplonRachel Chohwanglim Assistant Professor of Commerce
Department for the suggestion, guidance, support, knowledge and encouragement that
she gave me through my project.

I would also like to thank all those who have spent their valuable time in contributing
the required information for my research.

Thankyou all.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
Page no.

❖ Title Page
❖ Declaration and Certificate
❖ Acknowledgement
❖ Table of content
❖ Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………...……….………6
❖ Chapter 2: Data and Research Analysis………...………………….…….11
❖ Chapter 3: Conclusion……………………………………………………25
❖ Bibliography..…………………………………………………………….28
❖ Annexure:
Questionnaire…..…………………………………..…..…………...……29

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 LIST OF TABLE
Page no.
❖ Table 1..............................................................................................................13
❖ Table 2..............................................................................................................14
❖ Table 3..............................................................................................................16
❖ Table 4.……………………………………………………………...……....17
❖ Table 5.……………………………………………………………………...19
❖ Table 6.………………………………………………………………………20
❖ Table 7.……………………………………………………………………... 21
❖ Table 8.……………………………………………………………………... 23

LIST OF CHARTS
Page no.
❖ Figure no. 3.1…………………………………………………………………….18
❖ Figure no. 6.1…………………………………………………………………….21
❖ Figure no.7.1…………………………………………………………………….22
❖ Figure no.8.1……………………………………………………………………..23

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CHAPTER-1
Introduction

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 1.1 A Brief Introduction on Bicycle
Rental Business.

A bicycle rental or bicycle hire business rents out bicycles for short periods of
time, usually for a few hours. Most rentals are provided by bicycle shops as a
sideline to their main businesses of sales and service, but shops specialize in
rentals. Bicycle rental businesses provide bicycles to people who are not
exclusively visitors or tourists for a short period of time. Bicycles are more often
used for local exploration. The people who take rents on bicycles are not mostly
tourists or visitors but usually the residents and locals themselves.

Even though cycling is an old fashion, it is still fresh and new in Kohima when
it comes to bicycle tourism. Kohima is a hilly terrain and because of that cycling
was not considered a fun activity. But with the development of better roads and
cycling lanes, things took a U-turn. A few bicycle rental business were launched
where one was an initiative from the government while some were done by our
own local individuals.

In these research, considerable information is analyzed through some of the

bicycle rentals that are presently operating in Kohima and factors based on the
user’s perception has been studied.

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 1.2 Review of the Literature
In this section, a detailed background on existing literature on the research topic
is provided. In order to understand this section, it is sub-divided into the
following sub components namely, a) review on bicycle transport as an
opportunity to develop the urban tourism, b) review on factors influencing
bicycle-metro integration.

a) Review on bicycle transport as an opportunity to develop the urban tourism

( Michal Roman & Monika Roman)
“This research gives a brief review about cycling as a form of transport and
tourism in Warsaw. This research showed that the city dwellers and tourists
in Warsaw can use around 2000 bicycles offered by 167 bicycle rentals. The
urban bike rental system is addressed to people who like active lifestyle and
cycling but do not a bicycle or has no room for bicycles. It is a very good
solution to reduce the congested city on the way to work, or school, or other
destination. In June 2013, a million bicycle rentals took place in Warsaw.
This proves the fact that there is great popularity of bike rental business
among the city dwellers and tourists.
From these research we will find that bicycle rental system has been a great
success in the Warsaw, and it gives the green light to other cities, a great
opportunity for the other cities that have great trails, longer mileage, etc”.

b) Review on factors influencing bicycle-metro integration (Jay Panchal,

Bhandhan Bhandhu Majumdar, V.Vinayaka Ram, and Debasis Basu0

"This section is intended to provide a brief review of existing research

literature available related to bicycle and metro integration. Among existing
researches, Rietveld (2000) put forward that bicycle can be an attractive
access mode for the railways as it saves the users time at bus or tram stops.

8
 He discovered that at the home end of the trip, bicycles seem to play an
important role as it gets a share of 35% as an access mode, whereas the share
is much lower at the activity end. He also finds that potential bicycle users
may get discouraged to ride bicycle to metro because of the insufficient
parking facilities for bicycles and high risk of bicycle get stolen at the
railway stations. Parkin et al. (2008) reported that an individual and the
socio-economic characteristics like gender, car owners, age, number of
students within the population, culture, standard of class of the people and
income plays a significant role towards one’s choice to bicycle. A few other
factors such as physical determinants like journey distance, degree of the
areas density, terrain structures (hilly / mountainous etc.) and weather
influenced attributes such as temperature and rainfall have been
significantly influencing the bicycle mode choice in an effective manner.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

This research is carried out with the following objectives:
❖ To study the aspects of planning and setting up of bicycle rental business
❖ To analyze the market potential of bicycle rental business
❖ To study the demographic characteristics of the sample population who
preferred bicycle rentals
❖ To identify the factors influencing the decisions of the sample population
regarding bicycle rentals

Significance of the study

Bicycle tourism can be characterized as a positive action, which incorporates

both transportation and recreation experiences. Tourism and recreational
cyclists are ones who utilize a bike for excursion pleasure, and generally takes
moderately short outings. In the city of Kohima, a good amount of the youth
populations have an enthusiasm for travelling. There are a couple of new
businesses which have been profiting on bicycle rentals. Cycling and tourism
are becoming popular in the present times, more people are engaging into this
activities for recreation experience and adventures. Therefore, if business

9
sectors begin in such kind of start-ups in Kohima, it can be a promising source
of making enormous cash earning opportunity. This study recognize the
potentials for this business unit.

Research Question

• Is cycle rental business a profitable Venture in Kohima?

• What are the prospects of cycle rental business in Kohima?

1.4 Research Problem

❖ The study cannot be considered as 100% accurate since it is based on
student’s point of view.
❖ Shortage of time has also been a major hurdle in this research.
❖ The survey is a factor of bias and prejudice of the respondents.
❖ Data may not be accurate as the demographic target respondents only
constitute a small percentage of the wide population.

1.5 Research Method

❖ Primary data was used for collecting the information and various data in
the form of questionnaire techniques.
❖ Secondary data was also used for collecting various information from the
internet.

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 Chapter-2
Data and
Research Analysis

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 2.1 Bicycle Rental businesses operating in
Kohima

SaviBikes
Location New Market, Daklane, Sect 3
Launched 2021
No. Of Cycles 8
Contacts 70851 21093
No. Of stations 1

❖ Background:
A small and fresh bicycle rental business start up by a young boy name Saviwho is
a only a graduate student. He started rental business after he finished his college
degree. The business came into force in 2021 with a capital of around Rs. 90,000 to

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 Rs. 2,00,000. There is a total of 8 bicycle assets. It is a private business and the
ownership solely belongs to Savi himself.

Table 1
For one bicycle Price₹ Duration

Per hour 50 Anytime from 9am to 4pm

Per day 250 9am to 4pm

❖ Reviews:
• Hiring service is available throughout the week
• Customers can book their bicycles in advance
• Customer’s ID card, aadhaar card or other is required in order to hire
for security purposes
• If damage is caused to the property then a fine should be imposed on
the customer for repairing expenses.
• Customer can contact the owner through direct call, WhatsApp, Email,
or other social media for online booking.

❖ Business profile:
• Start Up Costs: Rs. 90,000 to Rs.2,00,000
• Potential Earnings: Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 1,50,000
• Typical Fees: Rs. 250 per day
• Advertising: Internet, social media’s, etc.
• Qualifications: None
• Equipment Needed: Fleet of bicycles and repair kit
• Potential Home Business: Yes
• Staff Required: No

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 Cycle4Change
Location Supermarket, near Local ground
Launched 2020
No. Of Cycles 10
Contacts 87942 67542
No. Of stations 1

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 ❖ Background:

[1]The India Cycles4Change Challenge is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission,

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India to inspire and support
Indian cities to implement quick cycling-friendly initiatives in response to COVID-19.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Challenge on June
25th2020.95 cities from across the country have registered to participate in this
challenge. In addition to creating extensive cycling-networks through low-cost
interventions like pop-up cycle lanes and traffic-calmed or non-motorised zones, cities
could launch programmers such as community-led cycle rental schemes that increase
the availability of cycles to citizens and promote the usage of cycling through public
events and outreach. In the longer term, the Smart Cities Mission encourages cities to
convert temporary interventions into permanent urban infrastructure.

Kohima is one of the 95 cities that has been registered for the India Cycle4Change
Challenge, which is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission. In a move towards making
Kohima a hub for cycling, the Kohima Smart City Development Limited (KSCDL) on
Friday, launched the Cycles4Change mobile application which gives access for users
to rent a bike, check cycling routes, mountain bike trail networks, cycling clubs and
shops in Kohima, and also receive notifications on cycling events, group rides through
Cloud messaging and in-App messaging platform(Ambrocia 2020).

Table 2

For one bicycle Price ₹ Duration

Per hour 50 Between 9am to

4pm
Per day 300 9am to 4pm

❖ Reviews:
• Hiring service is available throughout the week
• Advanced booking and pre scheduling plan can be done

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• Customer’s ID card, aadhaar card or other is required in order to hire for
security purposes
• Fine can be imposed if any damage is caused to the property.
• Online bookings can be done through email, facebook, and other social media
platforms.

❖ Business Profile
• Start Up Costs: Rs. 1,00,000 to 5,00,000
• Potential Earnings: Rs. 2,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000
• Typical Fees: Rs. 300 per day
• Advertising: Flyres/ Brochures/ Internet
• Qualifications: None
• Equipment Needed: Fleet of bicycles and repair kits
• Potential Home Business: Yes
• Staff Required: No

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2.2 Results and Analysis of the demographic
respondents
Following are the details of the demographic characteristics of respondents.

Table 3

AGE

Frequency Percentage % Valid Cumulative

Percentage Percentage
18-27 55 68.75 68.75 68.75

28-37 17 21.25 21.25 90

38-47 6 7.5 7.5 97.5

48 and above 2 2.5 2.5 100

Total 80 100 100

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 2.5%
7.5%

21.25% (18-27)
(28-37)
(38-47)
(48 and above)
68.75%

Figure 3.1

Interpretation: Data have been collected from 80 respondents from which 55

respondents are between the age group of 18-27, 17 respondents are between the age
group of 28-37, 6 respondents are between the age group of 38-47 and lastly 2
respondents are 48 and above.

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 Table 4

Previous experience of visiting tourist places

Frequency Percentage Cumulative

frequency
Yes 77 96.25 96.25

No 3 3.75 100

Total 80 100

Interpretation: Data has been collected on travelling plans of the respondents.The

frequency denotes the number of people who have and who have not visited any tourist
place in and around Kohima. 77 respondents out of 80 have visited several tourist places
in and around Kohima. So majority of the respondents came become a target market
for the Bicycle rentals.

Table 5

Frequency of visiting tourist places

Frequency Percentage Cumulative

frequency
Once 7 8.75 8.75

Twice 42 52.5 61.25

Thrice 12 15 76.25

More than the 19 23.75 100

above
Total 80 100

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Interpretation: Data has been collected on visiting tourist places taking a period of
one year as base. The respondents were requested to express their opinions. Out of 80
respondents 7 respondents have visited tourist places one time and 42 respondents have
visited tourist places two times and 12 respondents have visited tourist places three
times and lastly 19 respondents have visited tourist places more than thrice.

Table 6

Interest in renting a bicycle

Frequency Percentage Cumulative

frequency
Yes 48 60 60

No 14 17.5 77.5

Maybe 18 22.5 100

Total 80 100

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 48
50
45
40
35
30
25 Yes

20 No
22.5%
17.5% Maybe
15
10
5
0
Yes
No
Maybe

Figure 6.1

Interpretation: Data have been collected on the interest to rent bicycle, out of 80
respondents 48 of them have expressed their interest towards renting bicycle. 14 of the
respondents showed that they are not interested in bicycle rentals.

Table 7

Reasons for renting

Frequency Percentage Cumulative
frequency
For enjoyment 51 63.75 63.75
and adventure
For fitness and 6 7.5 71.25
health purpose
To learn how to 23 28.75 100
ride bicycle
Total 80 100

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 28.75%
For enjoyment and adventure
For fitness and health purpose
To learn how to ride bicycle
7.5% 63.75%

Figure 7.1

Interpretation: Data have been collected on the respondent's reason for renting bicycle
and out of 80 respondent’s 51 of them expressed their views that they would rent bicycle
for touring, enjoyment and adventure purpose. 23 of the respondents would rent to learn
how to ride which in future have a chance to be in the first category.

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 Table 8

Reasons for not renting

Frequency Percentage Cumulative
frequency
I have no reason 36 45 45
for not renting
I am worried for 17 21.25 66.25
causing damage
to the property (
lead to repair fees,
extra fine,etc.)
I don’t know if 7 8.75 75
the bikes are
available
I am nervous or 20 25 100
shy
Total 80 100

Nervous or shy 20

Dont know if the bikes are available 8.75%

Sales
Worried for causing damage to the
21.25%
property

No reason for not renting 36

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

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 Figure 8.1

Interpretation: Data have been collected on the reasons for not renting a bicycle, out
of 80 respondents 36 respondents gave their opinion that they have no reason for not
renting a bicycle. 17 respondents gave their view that they are afraid to cause any
damages on the bicycles and pay for repairs. 20 respondents expressed their view that
they are hesitant or nervous to rent bicycles which could be a factor of the introvert
personalities.

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Chapter-3
Conclusion

25
3.1 Findings
The purpose of this study is to identify the current situation of bicycle rental business
in Kohima through data analysis and to find ways to improve it. For this purpose, we
analyzed the open data set provided by the bicycle rental firms and the typical data
which is the citizen opinion of the customers in the city. As the result, it was found that
it is an ideal to install a bicycle rental shop in Kohima.

There are not many bicycle rentals in Kohima. The existing bicycle rentals are rarely
recognized by people since it is a fresh business in the region. Unfortunately it was not
possible to find and extract information from every existing bicycle rentals. According
to the study, a capital of Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 4,00,000 was required to acquire 8 to 10
fleet of bicycles and other assets. Their potential earnings can be estimated to an amount
of around Rs. 1,50,000 to Rs 4,00,000 annually. It is definitely a favourable business
choice in terms of profits since there is almost no competition and that gives high
opportunity to obtain high share in the market. Through several researches, it is found
that in other cities like metro cities, 'Licensing' is a problem start up businesses has to
face. But fortunately there is no such policy yet in Nagaland, any person who has
capital, a fleet of bicycles can open a rental business without any restrictions.

Bicycle tourism is becoming more popular in today’s time. Many youth’s are attracted
to adventures and travelling. Cycling is one of the best options to go for as an adventure.
Youth are the main targets of the bicycle rental businesses. Flyers and posters, attractive
advertisements on social medias, etc. are used to reach out more customers.

3.2 Suggestions
❖ Youth are showing interest towards bicycle rentals. So they are the main target
group of the bicycle rentals.
❖ GPS should be installed in every bicycle for asset protection.

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 ❖ Bicycle should be rented after taking the original identity proof of the
customer.
❖ Tracking unit should be installed for 24/7 trace.
❖ High-end bicycles should be rented for attracting youth
❖ Rent fee should be not be too high nor too low that profit is always minimum.
❖ Promotional activities should be effective and consistent for a start up to
attract many customers.
❖ As the competitors are very less in Kohima, there is a high chance of
occupying high market share.

3.3 Conclusion
Cycling is considered one of the best activities to stay healthy. Along with various
benefits, it is a green way to commute from one place to another. Since bicycle rental
business firms in Kohima are fresh and newly set up, and the demand for renting bicycle
is going up every year. Every year more getting into cycling and tourism. It is a high
cash earning opportunity for the fresh start ups in the near future. However, there are
also challenges faced by the firms which sometimes slow the operation of the business.
Repair and maintenance is the only major factor to work on. But the benefits of running
a bicycle renting business is more favorable than the challenges.

According to the research, more than 60% are from the age of 18-27 who are very
adventurous and very much interested in cycling. Youth are the major target of bicycle
rentals. From the few samples collected, majority of the respondents especially the
youths are interested in visiting tourist places on bicycle. There are also a good number
of people aging from 28 and above who might have an interest towards renting a
bicycle. Since cycling is becoming more popular in Kohima, business like cycle shops,
and rentals, will increase in the near future and more people will be engaged in cycling.

27
 Bibliography

Michal Roman and Monika Roman (2014) “Bicycle Transport As An Opportunity

To Develop Urban Tourism- Warsaw Example”.

Jay Panchal, Bhandhan Bhandhu Majumdar, V.Vinayaka Ram, and Debasis Basu
(2019) “Review on factors influencing bicycle-metro integration”.

❖ https://www.eastmojo.com/news/2020/07/28/kohima-
smart-city-launches-cycle4change-campaign/
❖ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877
04281405469X/pdf?md5=5bd7cfd823ebedebaf6f4723a2
d6e2b9&pid=1-s2.0-S187704281405469X-main.pdf
❖ www.google.com

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 APPENDIX

Questionnaire
Name-

Gender-

Questionnaire to Bicycle Rentals in Kohima (Please tick to answer)

1) What is the name of your business/ company?

2) When did you start your business?

3) What is your start up cost/ capital investment?

a) 1,00,000 to 5,00,000 b) 5,00,000 to 10,00,000 c) 10,00,000 to 15,00,000

4) How many bicycle assets do the company own?

a) 1 to 10 b) 10 to 20 c) 20 to 30

5) Approximate profit of the business for the last few months /year
a) 1,00,000 to 5,00,000 b) 5,00,000 to 10,00,000 c) more than 10,00,000

6) Do you think your business is doing well?

a) Yes b) No

7) How many employees/ staffs are there?

a) None b) _________(fill the blank)

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8) How do you advertise your business?
a) Newspaper b) social media c) flyers /posters d) others

9) Do you face problems with advertising?

a) Yes b) Not much c) Yes a lot

10) Do the seasonal changes affect the business’s profits?

a) Yes b) 100% c) Not much

11) Which season/period is more favourable?

a) Winter b) Summer c) Rainy season

12) How much do repair and maintenance affect the business?

a) Not much b) Quite a lot c) Not at all

13) Customer behavior in using the bicycles affect the business badly.
a) Highly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Highly disagree

14) Rate the performance of your business.

a) Stable b) Very good c) Struggling d) Slow but promising

15) Do you want to expand your business in future?

a) Maybe b) Definitely c) No

Questionnaire to target respondents

16) Which age category are you in?

a) 18-27 b) 28-37 c) 38-47 d) 48 and above

17) Have you visited various tourist places in Kohima?

a) Yes b) No

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18) How many times have you visited tourist places?
a) Once b) Twice c) Thrice d) More

19) Have you done cycling before?

a) Yes b) NN
20) Have you visited tourist place on bicycle?
a) Yes b) No

21) Have you rented one before?

a) Yes b) No

22) Are you interested in Cycling?

a) A little bit b) Very much interested c) Not interested

23) Are you interested in renting one?

a) Yes b) No c) Maybe

24) If Yes, why?

a) For enjoyment and adventure
b) For fitness and health purpose
c) To learn how to ride

25) If No, why?

a) I have no reason for not renting
b) I am worried for causing damage to the property
c) I don’t know if the bikes are available
d) I am nervous and shy

26) Importance of price of renting a bicycle.

a) Very Important
b) Important
c) Neither important nor unimportant
d) Not important

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27) Importance of brand of the bicycles.
a) Very important
b) Important
c) Neither important nor unimportant
d) Not important

28) Importance of color of the bicycles

a) Very important
b) Important
c) Neither important nor unimportant
d) Not important

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