Students with bicycles will soon have an on-campus option for maintenance and advice besides taking their bikes to mechanics at on-campus bike repair shop.
On September 20, UNIST has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UNIST Student Residence Council and the Social Enterprise Geoma Co. Ltd. to provide a full-space bike shop on campus, offering a bicycle repair and maintenance service every Wednesday.
In the memorandum of understanding, the three organizations also promised to build an effective local community-based collaboration, thus improving the wellbeing of all students at UNIST.
Under this partnership, Geoma Co. Ltd. will be offering minor bicycle repairs and tune-ups on every Wednesdays at UNIST. The services offered will include free safety inspections, which include seat and handle adjustments. Tire replacements and brake and gear adjustments will be also offered to walk-ins during service hours.
A cooperation on a collection service to pick up and dispose of old bicycles is also underway. This way, UNIST can donate unwanted bicycles to Geoma to be recycled, refurbished , and distributed back into UNIST students or local neighbors in need.
Today’s cooperation agreement is an extension of the existing partnership between UNIST and Geoma Co. Ltd. to provide bike repair services for students at UNIST. Geoma has been voluntarily providing bike repairs and fitting services since 2013. UNIST has been promoting this as a regular service, considering that student demands for bike repair and maintenance are high and event like this can contribute significantly to the creation of work opportunities for older people in the community.
UNIST has arranged an office space on the first floor of UNIST Student Dormitory I for better and enhanced services. Safety inspections, tire replacements and brake and gear adjustments will be offered to walk-ins during service hours and there will be a small call-out charge. The new bicycle repair shop was named “UNIROAD 50”, nominated by a naming competition by students.
The celebration consisted of a signing ceremony of the MoU among UNIST, Student Residence Team, and Geoma, as well as the signboard hanging ceremony of UNIROAD 50. The ceremony has been attended by CEO Yeongsam Cho of Geoma Co. Ltd, Director Sang Kyu Kwak of Admissions and Student Affairs, President JongHyeok Lee of Student Residence Council, and 20 other university officials.
