Student Car Sharing launches in Prague

The students of three universities – the University of Economics, Prague, Czech Technical University in Prague and the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague – have developed a unique car sharing concept called Uniqway. The car sharing platform is being released fully to the market after its successful testing phase. From now, its services are available to students and employees from the mentioned universities. The proper circumstances for Uniqway’s emergence were provided by ŠKODA AUTO ČR and ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab.

The University of Economics in Prague’s students are responsible for the marketing strategy of the project and social networking while Czech Technical University’s students developed the technical concept and design of the service and the students from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague are administrating the project.

“We have been developing the whole concept for three years. It’s based on community principles where students, under the tutelage of their universities’ academic mentors and with the support of Škoda Auto, develop a project for themselves and their schoolmates,” introduces Uniqway the mentor of project for the University of Economics in Prague, Petr Král. “The community provides an opportunity for sharing experience among students from all fields and universities and also helps professional growth of the students who participate in the project. The students can therefore choose the amount of their own participation in the project – whether they are only going to be users or will actively develop the project further in cooperation with their schoolmates. That’s the main difference between our project and other similar commercial services on the market. We also plan to spread the project into other universities in Prague and around the Czech Republic,” explains.

“The customer registers online. However, he must come to one of the contact spots, where we verify the customer’s identity. Contact spots are present in every university that participates in the project,” describes the sharing process the coordinator of Uniqway’s student team and a former University of Economic’s student, Michaela Stránská. “After registration, the user needs to download an app in which he can view and reserve available vehicles. Once the user arrives at the chosen car, he or she can choose the unlock option and press his ISIC or student card against a box behind the windshield. No keys are needed,” adds Stránská.

The basic fare for the car rental is composed of the sum of the duration of car usage and the distance travelled: 29 CZK per hour and 4,90 CZK per kilometre. Uniqway, however offers discounts for longer trips or travels. The service uses student cards or ISIC, which are held by every student. After free registration, one can search and book cars in the app.