XIMB students ride bicycles rented from X-Cycles. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 21: Xavier Institute of Management and Technology (XIMB) students have come up with a cheap, healthy and fun solution for students who face conveyance problems while travelling on and outside the campus.

X Seed — the idea and initiative cell of the B school has come up with the concept ‘X-Cycles’ that allows students to rent bicycles on an hourly rate.

“X-Cycles promotes a clean and green environment,” says Chirag Jain a student. Cycling is also healthy and keeps you fit.

The facility is available for the XIMB community with some 900 target users including students, staff and faculty. At present, there are seven cycles on the campus, which are available for rent at Rs 8 an hour. The members are required to deposit an initial amount of Rs 200 as an advance payment to avail of the facility. The maintenance and repair of the bicycles is taken care of by team X-SEED.

The initiative found a place on Tata First Dot, a platform that mentors and showcases student start-ups.

Risheek Raizada, a student of the 2013-15 batch pursuing business management at XIMB, uses this facility. “Public transport in Bhubaneswar is good. But if one has to travel to specific shops or markets, it’s a choice between switching several cheap, shared autorickshaws or taking an expensive ride directly to the destination. But I find the cycles a much better alternative. It keeps me free from the hassle of finding public transport and gives me a way to enjoy the fresh evening air. Being a member of X-Cycles, I can proudly state that I have explored Bhubaneswar in a much cleaner and greener way and brought back memories of cycling as a kid.”

Bhubaneswar has dedicated cycle tracks on many roads and this makes cycling all the more fun. With more and more corporates employing a “cycle to work day” routine at least once a month, cycling is now seen as a low cost way to reduce pollution and stay fit.

X-Cycles has received a good in XIMB and X-SEED is now planning to add new and better cycles to the fleet.