Universidad del Azuay gets on the bike

The 19 of September in the morning a cycle was made between the central campus of the University of Azuay and the House of Services, in the framework of the Mobility Week that is commemorated from the 16 to the 22 of September each year.

The main objective of the event is to encourage citizens in general, and the university community in particular, to choose alternative means of transportation to contribute to the environment, reduce pollution and generate alternatives to exercise.

“We are human beings that seek an integral formation, therefore, we help in the processes that are for the common welfare for the benefit of the environment; let's try to make a better world among all, ”said Martha Cobos, Academic Vice Chancellor of the UDA.

Felipe Serrano, a Production Engineering student and student representative, who has participated in group talks in the classrooms to promote the daily use of the bicycle as a means of transport, indicated that it is important to reduce pollution in the city and, at the same time , exercise.

"As young students we must be the example of change," said Serrano.

The Universidad del Azuay has launched the “A la U en cycling” campaign within the university community that promotes the use of bicycles in our university community based on a series of strategies explained by Mateo Coello, professor at the School of Engineering in Automotive:

“First of all what we did to be able to give a research category to the project, with a view to publications, was to make a baseline survey based on surveys on line about the mobility patterns of the UDA: how many people come by private vehicle, how many by bicycle, how many on foot ”.

As the researchers considered that it is not enough to just report on the benefits of using the bicycle to promote its use, they launched the  
Accompaniment program for potential cyclists:

“If we have a teacher who declared in the surveys that he would be interested in testing mobility by bike, we will contact him and give him a bicycle, a
light training and support to feel and live the
experience, ”Coello explained.

Joaquín López, another professor linked to the project, said that it is necessary to break with our mobility patterns that prioritize the private vehicle generating traffic, emissions and sedentary lifestyle. 

"A U by bike is a proposal to solve the mobility problems we live in Cuenca through the bicycle, exercising and demanding the right to the city," he added. 

Another strategy in which one is going to work is the generation of incentives (free food in places affiliated with the project and a bicycle at the end of the year for the person who used the most bicycle) for those who travel more kilometers by bicycle.

For this, an application has been developed that will be linked to the app of students to check their grades and faults, to be able to monitor the number of
trips, routes and kilometers pedaled.

There is also a fleet of UDA bicycles so you can
use as a shared UDA bike; for this it will be used influencers in networks to motivate others to move by bike.

“Finally, the launch of the program for the students of the university is planned, constant promotion through social networks, bicycle promotion fairs and the idea is also to generate agreements with the commercialization companies of bicycles, so that it can be given payment facilities so that the UDA community can acquire theirs, ”concluded the Coello.