Opening of the first RegioRad stations

The opening of the fourth RegioRad station took place on 02.09.2020. In addition to our Chairman of the Board Christopher Behrmann, our Rector, Prof. Wolfram Ressel, Stuttgart’s Construction Mayor Peter Pätzold, Baden-Württemberg’s Transport Minister Winfried Hermann and our Speakerof the Department for Mobility, Philipp Buchholz, were also present. Due to Corona, the opening ceremony had to take place on a small scale.

The RegioRad project was launched by stuvus in 2017 and was approved by the student parliament in July 2019. The idea behind it was not only to provide a sustainable means of transport, but also a cost-effective alternative to previous mobility and to make places on campuses more easily accessible. There will be nine new RegioRad stations in total. The stations opened so far are at the Audimax, at the University Sports Centre, at the ILEK and at the Aerospace Technology Centre.

The RegioRad stations will enable students to commute between Campus Vaihingen and Campus Stadtmitte, but also to reach other locations on the campuses more quickly. Of course, private excursions with the RegioRad stations are also possible. The advantage for students: Anyone who buys a Polygo-Card for €3 a year can ride a bicycle for 30 minutes free of charge and a pedelec for 15 minutes free of charge. If you reach a RegioRad station within the 30 minutes, you can return the RegioRad there and borrow a new one again for 30 minutes free of charge. This means that longer distances are also possible free of charge. If you don’t want to buy a Polygo-Card, you can find more options at regioradstuttgart.de/en/tarifs.

The bicycles are sponsored from the city’s contingent. stuvus is financing four fixed stations with terminals, four virtual stations with floor markings, 39 stands, 12 charging points and 12 pedelecs. The station on the S-Bahn on the Vaihingen campus is paid for by the city of Stuttgart. The costs for the other stations amount to €23,000 per year, which is equivalent to €1 per student per year. As this is a rather high expense for the student council and stuvus wants to handle the student fees responsibly, this was not an easy decision. This makes us, the student representatives, all the happier that the University of Stuttgart has agreed to take over a year.

Since the RegioRäder (the bikes) can of course also be used by university employees on site, stuvus would be happy if not only the students would pay their contribution to more sustainability and future mobility. All in all, the project received a lot of positive feedback: Prof. Wolfram Ressel and Winfried Hermann praised the student initiative and stuvus’ commitment. While the first students are already using the RegioRäder on the Campus Vaihingen, stuvus is of course pleased about the general positive acceptance and use of the RegioRäder.