Electric buggies will soon hit the sprawling campus of the century-old University of Mysore (UoM) here for ferrying students and visitors to various departments and other facilities inside the scenic Manasagangotri.
The first batch of battery-operated carts is expected to be rolled out for operations during Makara Sankranti and more such zero-emission means of transport would be introduced in the tree-rich campus on seeing the feedback from the users, according to university authorities.
Two 11-seater buggies will become operational on or before January 15. They will shuttle between the University’s main entrance gate on Bogadi Road and another gate near Senate Bhavan, off Hunsur Road.
The campus has 42 post-graduation departments with over 2,000 students, including those from over 30 countries.
Vice-Chancellor G. Hemantha Kumar told The Hindu that the university’s larger idea of launching buggies was to make commuting easy within the campus since city buses are not allowed to operate inside. “We could have introduced conventional vehicles for the transportation needs of students but choose the electric buggies as they are eco-friendly and noise-free.” He clarified that buggies would be an additional mode of transport, and students and staff were free to use their own vehicles. “We could free vehicle movement on the campus when at least 25 to 30 buggies are put to use. I have thought of allocating funds in the next budget for procuring a few more of them,” he said.
The university was mulling over charging a nominal user fee both for students and visitors. “A ride could cost ₹3 per person. However, the service will be free for physically challenged persons and elderly citizens. Also, there is a thought of introducing student passes for using the buggies once more such carts hit the campus,” the VC said.
Kukkarahalli Lake, one of the last remaining lakes of the city, is located on the campus. The main campus is spread over 500 acres. Besides the two gates, there is another gate near the campus of SJCE, and security personnel had been deployed at each of the gates.
The university had plans of introducing bicycles inside the campus for the travel needs of students. “Actually, we had thought that one of the docking stations of Trin Trin would be installed within the campus and the same could be used by our students. But the station had been installed away from the campus by the Mysuru City Corporation,” according to Mr. Kumar.
The campus was earlier identified as one of the sites for introducing cycles by setting up docking stations as part of the country’s first Public Bicycle Sharing System (PBSS) which is in operation since last few years.
“We are working out the modalities on how to run the system if the university introduces the cycles on its own. At least 100 cycles are necessary considering the volume of students pursuing various courses on the PG campus,” he said.
The university had earlier come forward to develop cycle tracks when there was a talk of having the bicycle sharing system on the campus.
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