In October 330 Dutch and international students qualifying for the bike were approached. Only first-year students with a postcode in Eindhoven received a letter from the Executive Board, saying that they qualify for the white bike with the TU/e logo. The first entry period closed on Thursday 15 November and yielded 56 registrations, 19 of whom stated English as their language of communication. Project leader Marcel van Buijtenen calls the project a success, also because it was started without any research having been conducted into the need for this bike among students. What is more, the project had to be set up at very short notice; just before the summer holidays the decision was made to start the project.
Last week Van Buijtenen announced that more than one hundred extra students, featuring in the student administration with a second address in Eindhoven, have also been invited to take part. The entry period for the second category will run until 7 December.
The plan to expand the original target group was devised after consultation with ir. Harry Roumen, secretary of the university, occasioned by an e-mail that a student sent Van Buijtenen. This student indicated that he had not received a letter. Meanwhile he had entered a second address in Eindhoven with the student administration.
The TU/e introduced the bicycle plan at the beginning of this academic year. The project is taking place in cooperation with the municipality of Eindhoven. Both parties have committed themselves to this project for three years. Its aim is to enhance the visibility of students in Eindhoven and to promote Eindhoven as a university town.
The university has ordered one hundred bicycles, which are being produced now. Whereas the bike’s selling price is about six hundred euros, students, who must live in Eindhoven, only need to pay one hundred and forty euros. Van Buijtenen expects that the first bikes will be delivered in December. No exact date can be given yet./.