islamabad - National University of Sciences Technology (NUST) students will no more have to walk kilometres inside the campus as “Cykiq” has arranged bicycles to make the commute easy.
The project “Cykiq” modelled after bicycle-sharing companies, commonly found in European and North American cities, was officially launched at NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) on Wednesday.
The start-up is rooted heavily in its technology-savvy approach to the problem of covering short distances within the campus.
Talking to The Nation, SEECS Principal Dr Muhammad Hassan Zaidi said that the students conceived the idea of the project keeping the vast area of the university in mind.
Ammara Tariq and Sanam Khan from NUST School of Art, Design and Architecture, and Anas Shehzad and Hamza Afridi from SEECS worked on the project.
“Bicycle is the most suitable, affordable and environment-friendly solution for the students’ problem of commuting inside the campus,” Dr Zaidi said.
Elaborating “Cykiq,” he said that students will simply have to install an application in their cell phones to access the available bicycle at the nearest point.
He said that 55 bicycles would be parked at five different spots in the campus from where the students may access its availability through the application.
“Bicycles will work on ‘sharing model’ which will help in their maximum utilisation,” he said.
Dr Zaidi said the department to department distance is almost 10 minutes which would be easily covered by bicycle utilisation.
Currently, five spots have been set for bicycle parking including Computer Science department, male and female hostels, cafeteria and the main gate, he said.
SEECS principal also informed The Nation that in the next few months, around 100 more bicycles would be added in the system.
“SEECS focuses on innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship and encourages its students to bring new and helpful ideas,” he said.
Shehzad informed The Nation that students will have to pay Rs15 per hour for availing the service.
“Basically the idea was based on the concept of ‘shared economy’ where people share all facilities in the world because it is affordable,” he said.
Bicycle renting/parking stations are strategically positioned across the campus.
These stations will allow users to unlock a cycle by swiping a “Cycard” allotted to them and park it at the nearest station after reaching the destination.
NUST Pro-Rector Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Rear Admiral Dr Nassar Ikram SI (M) inaugurated the project.
He congratulated the school and students for the idea that would benefit the entire NUST community. He also advised the students that they should consider this a benchmark and continue to strive for better.