CURTIN University has launched a share bike scheme to encourage sustainability.
Established and integrated by the Curtin Student Guild, the Social Bicycles (SoBi) are available on the Bentley campus.
Students, staff and visitors can use the bikes through an interactive smartphone application and has been lauded as an innovative to way for students to zoom from class to class by Curtin Student Guild president Jake Wittey.
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READ NOW“We have beautiful grounds at Curtin, but they are quite expansive,” he said.
“Cycling through the grounds not only gives you a different perspective of the gardens and facilities but also reduces your travel time between classes.
“The SoBi system is great because it allows students to login and see where the closest bike is and drop it off wherever, for the next person to use.”
The 30 red bicycles stand out on campus and are fitted with locks that can be used with conventional bike racks and fences.
“We’ll see how these 30 go. We’d really like to form partnerships in the future to extend the travelling options for our students,” Mr Wittey said.
Monash University in Melbourne was the first university nationally to launch the SoBi program.
SoBi bikes are available free for a full year for the first 300 registered users, with 45 minutes free ride time per day; otherwise the charge is $5 per hour.
“It’s been really exciting to see students using the SoBi bikes and it’s also encouraged students to bring their own to campus and use them to get between classes,” Mr Wittey said.