UNC grad hopes to offer affordable bike rentals

Hasan Abdullah’s bicycle was stolen on campus two years ago.

And now, he wants to ensure other local bicycle owners don’t suffer the same fate.

With WeCycles, the company he founded, Abdullah hopes to create a bike rental service on campus and around Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

Abdullah said the program, if approved, would use 24-hour electronic kiosks where customers could swipe their One Cards or credit cards to rent bikes at an hourly fee. Yearly memberships would also be available.

 The prices aren’t set, but WeCycles director Ibraheem Khalifa said the hourly rate will be less than a cup of coffee.

“We can’t tell you if it’s a large cup or a small cup,” Khalifa said.

Abdullah, a Chapel Hill native who graduated from UNC last year, said he has always wanted to help the town grow.

The idea for WeCycles came to him during the summer of 2008.

The following fall, Abdullah enrolled in Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Launching the Venture program, in which students and professors help aspiring entrepreneurs formulate a business plan and learn how to lure investors.

Khalifa, an engineer, teamed up with Abdullah in March with hopes to design the company’s kiosks.

At a Sept. 14 business meeting, Abdullah and Khalifa proposed their idea to members of the Chapel Hill Town Council. They need the town’s help in placing the rental kiosks near bus stops, greenways and bike lanes.

The council referred the proposal to the town’s planning department.

Mayor pro tem Jim Ward asked the two how their proposal would involve the Blue Urban Bike program, which already loans bikes in Chapel Hill and Carrboro and is run by the ReCYCLEry.

Although Abdullah hasn’t contacted ReCYCLEry director Chris Richmond about collaborating, Richmond said he is interested.

“If we could strike a partnership that gets more folks riding, that’s going to improve funding for infrastructure — more greenways, bike lanes and better signage,” he said.

Council member Jim Merritt said the board won’t vote on WeCycles until it has more details from the planning department.

But that won’t discourage Abdullah and Khalifa, who said they already hope to expand WeCycles to Raleigh.

“There is no time of day when I’m not thinking about this project,” Khalifa said.

 
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.