Punjab

Rent-a-motorcycle business takes off

One vendor says he charges customers Rs100 an hour

APP July 10, 2023

50,000 motorcycles are stolen every year in Karachi, as per Citizen Police Liaison Committee. Photo: File

MULTAN:

With the growing need of transportation among masses, the business of rent-a-motorcycle has taken off across South Punjab, especially in its rural areas.

A large number of vendors have established motorcycle rental shops in their local areas. Some people are doing this business only as a part time work.

A rent-a-motorcycle vendor, Ghulam Mustafa, said that he had been running this business for the last few years profitably.

He said that inflation was rising day by day and the demand of motorcycles was also increasing. He said that a total of eight motorcycles were available at his shop, but the number of the customers was twice that of the vehicles he had to offer.

He said he had been charging Rs100 an hour from his customers. Another vendor, Aftab Hussain, said that he had been into some other business, but he had lately switched to motorcycle-lending business.

He said he had been using the drawing room of his house as his office, and most of his customers were local people who he knew so the risk of theft was almost zero.

Meanwhile, some students and farmers have also been observed offering their motorcycles on rent.

Majid Ali said he used his motorcycle to commute to his college and then back home. Summer holidays offered him a chance to offer his bike for lending.

He said he had been thinking about purchasing another motorcycle for commercial purposes which would hopefully help him pay his college fee, reducing the burden his parents had been shouldering.

In many rural areas of South Punjab, motorcyclists offer rides against Rs30 to Rs50. Muhammad Anwar, a motorcyclist, said he offered rides to people from the bus stands to their homes which helped him earn from Rs400 to Rs500 a day.

He said there was no proper public transportation facilities in various rural areas, and people preferred motorcycles due to cheap fare and also because this mode of travel cut short their travel time.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2023.