Bicycle rental system wanted

Austin Johnson is an advocate for pedal power for students

Meet Austin.

Austin Johnson is an American who’s at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) to complete a short internship.

He needs accommodation, certain text books, access to university facilities and transport. He hadn’t thought the latter would be a problem. After all, where he comes from public transport is readily available and bicycles are easy to rent.

Not so in Nelson Mandela Bay. The Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) introduced prior to the 2010 Football World Cup has been a disaster and bicycles are readily available to purchase but not to rent.

“The university needs a bicycle rental system,” says Austin, who is completing his internship toward a Masters of Science degree in College Counselling and Student Development from St Cloud University in Minnesota.

Agreed.

Given the price of petrol (though thankfully car owners are all feeling a little wealthier after two recent decent drops in the petrol price) and the university’s drive towards seeking renewable energy solutions, NMMU should be firmly in the saddle, leading the peloton in pedal power for all students.

There’s been talk of introducing an inter-campus bicycle system – as is practiced in tourist cities and universities around the globe – but it’s still only talk.

And conversely that’s why Austin is now the proud temporary owner of a near-new mountain bike.

He is now using a bicycle donated to the scheme (the one that is still only being spoken about) by a Norwegian exchange student last year. Amanda had read about the proposed rental system and donated her bike so that other students did not have to go through the inconvenience and expense of tracking down and buying a bicycle for a short stay like she had.

Rather than let her bicycle continue to gather dust, our office opted to loan the bike to him. His 40-minute walk is now a hapless five-minute ride.

Austin’s happy and we’re happy to see someone getting some use from Amanda’s goodwill gesture.

But we’d all be happier still if NMMU stopped talking and started doing – and made a bicycle rental system between North, South and Second Avenue a reality.

Don’t you agree?