Office errands to holiday trips — one can now rent a bike for a week or a month, with a driver and without.

Two start-ups by two city youths have received official clearances from the state government to start their operations covering Calcutta and its adjoining areas involving two-wheelers.

BiGo, a joint initiative by city-born Ankit Nevadia and Ankit Jalan, is offering two-wheelers with drivers on rent. The other, Radhashree Roadstars by Raghav Randar, offers bikes for rent, without drivers.

The first is aimed at meeting office errands, including visiting banks, delivering packages, dropping by construction sites and picking up clients for meetings. The fleet consists of only electric two-wheelers and are available in weekly and monthly packages for 10 hours per day.

The other venture by Randar revolves around renting out bikes to those who want to go out on short staycations to places in and around Calcutta and for the more adventurous ones, to other parts of the state including the hills, rivers, jungles and the sea. There are no drivers. So one who rents the bike has the two-wheeler to himself for a week or more depending on his needs.

Both the companies own their respective fleet of two-wheelers, which have been registered as “commercial vehicles”.

The have started operations with a soft launch and plan to go big with dedicated apps once the general elections are over.

“We are the first in the country to start such a service on only battery-powered two-wheelers,” said Nevadia.

The weekly charge with a driver is Rs 4,299 and Rs 14,999 for a month.

Randar’s aim is different. The target is avid bikers who want to visit places of tourist interest on two-wheelers and spend a few days on vacation. “The rate varies depending upon the make of a two-wheeler. Beginning Rs 400 a day, it can go up to Rs 5,000 a day,” he said.

A senior transport department official said: “The state government is keen on
promoting such business endeavours.”