NELSON Mandela Metropolitan University students and staff can remove the long walk between the university’s North and South campuses, by hopping onto a solar-charged e-bike.

A total of ten e-bikes, all part of a shared fleet, have just been launched on February 16 as part of this unique green transport pilot project.

“This project is a first for a South African university,” said Greg Ducie Projects Director for NMMU Infrastructure.

The shared e-bikes can be collected and dropped off at custom-designed docking stations on the two campuses.

The e-bike project has been funded mutually by NMMU, uYilo and the Advanced Mechatronics Technology Centre which houses NMMU’s merSETA chair in Engineering Development.

“Each station has rooftop solar panels that provide the green energy needed to power this green transport solution,” said Hiten Parmar Deputy Director for uYilo.

“Society needs to embrace the concept of shared mobility as a service to get from Point A to Point B rather than the ‘ownership’ way of thinking. Parmar said the e-bikes are a great way to showcase the fleet sharing system and they also provide “exciting opportunities for further research on a real life application and working model.”

The swipe of a student or staff access card will be all that is required to check the bikes out of their stations, although those wanting to use them will have to complete a once-off online registration, and collect keys and a helmet from nearby security points.

Car sharing, a step-up from bike sharing, is a vision towards which uYilo is working. It is happening in major cities like London, Paris and Oslo and was last year introduced to South Africa by Locomute.

“In addition to harvesting renewable energy for green mobility, mobility-sharing reduces the number of cars on the road which has an improved effect on the quality of our air. We will monitor the success of the pilot, before looking at expanding such projects nationally,” said Parmar.