One month from the rollout of Jobike, Bangladesh’s first bicycle sharing app for the Dhaka University (DU) campus, the service is garnering positive response and admiration from students.

On October 7, the bicycle rental company started its journey on the campus with 100 bicycles that has now been increased to 130 under the name DU Chakkar. Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) first took the initiative to launch the two wheeler service and contacted Mehedi Reza, founder and Chief Executive of Jobike, the UNB reported.

Now it has 5,200 registered users on the campus and around 1,00,000 users across the country. The number is increasing gradually thanks to their affordability and good service.

The fare for these bicycles is Tk 2.5 for first 5 minutes then Tk 0.4 for each additional minute. Although the users said they were satisfied with the service, they demanded increasing the number of bikes.

Gazi Hirok, a third-year student of Bijoy Ekattor Hall, said the fare is cheaper than rickshaws. “On Jobike, the distance you can cover for Tk 5-10 will cost about Tk 30 on rickshaws. It’s really amazing,” he said.

He said the number of bikes should be increased as sometimes they are not available because of their high demand.

Jobike Chief Executive Mehedi Reza told UNB that they “got an extraordinary response from DU users” which prompted them to decide to increase the number of bikes to over 500 by December.

They also plan to increase the number of touch points in front of student dormitories, academic and administrative buildings where Jobike’s representatives will also assist interested users.

Jobike mobile application enables users to share bicycles for rent. After downloading the app, users will have to sign up and can then scan a quick response (QR) code on the bicycle to unlock it for use.

Shams E Noman, students’ transport affairs secretary of Ducsu, elected from Bangladesh Chhatra League panel, said it was in their election manifesto to initiate Jobike operations on the campus for easy movement of students.

“Before launching this service, students had to pay more for rickshaw rides. Jobike is eco-friendly and good for health,” he said.

Jobike started its journey in Bangladesh from the tourist hub of Cox’s Bazar in January last year. Apart from DU, the service is currently available at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology and the Mirpur DOHS area of Dhaka.