Students at Bangalore University's (BU) Jnana Bharathi campus have always had to take long and sometimes tiring walks within the 1,000-acre campus. Soon those in a hurry or are bushed can wheel themselves over those distances. For, the university is all set to join an elite club of universities which will have a public bicycle sharing system on campus.
Pilot project
The ambitious project, Namma Cycle, is the brainchild of the Ride A Cycle Foundation (RACF). The project will be launched on an experimental basis within a month or two on a small scale. Once initiated, students who wish to use the facility will be given identity cards which they should produce to hop on the cycle at a meagre rental of Re. 1 per trip.
The RACF is getting 25 second-hand cycles from the Army on a temporary basis for free. Under the pilot project, two rental stations will also be set up at the campus. While these will cost roughly about Rs. 70,000, it will be compensated as the cycles are free. The number of cycles and stations will be increased gradually.
Cloud computing
The RACF will use cloud computing for data maintenance. The system will be such that all the details of the ID card holder who has rented the bicycle will be available on the software, which will also keep track of the number of trips made and the location of the bicycle.
Murali Ramnath from the RACF said that the foundation had carried out a survey among BU students and had received a positive response from a large section towards the experiment.
K. Manjunath, professor, Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, and officer on special duty to the Vice-Chancellor who is co-ordinating the project, told The Hindu that the project would be instrumental in cutting down traffic from within the campus. “The roads within the campus are public roads. This will help reduce the traffic,” he said, and added that students and faculty will be saving a lot of time spent on walking. He also said that depending on the success of the project, cycling zones could be introduced within the campus.
The project is yet to be formalised, and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed shortly between BU and the RACF. As the university is only providing operation area, both sides are looking for support from corporates, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and other government agencies. A workshop is also being held in this regard at the Central College campus on Saturday.
