Accessible to all: – I have been coming here almost every week

Currently present in 208 Norwegian municipalities, Bua lent out 818.094 items in the last year and 3,5 million since 2016. Who knows how many adventures and stories have been intertwined in these objects over the years.

The aim is to let anyone borrow equipment, regardless of budget, and to make nature explorable without increasing consumption.

– We don’t just give stuff, we give experiences

Shahad Emad (22) likes her job. She works in one of the seven locations of Bua in the municipality of Bergen, Bua Slåtthaug. 

– The thing I love most about my job is helping people. We don’t just give stuff, we give experiences, she says

Her colleague, Tobias Sedberg Garden (23), also values the relationship with customers.

 – There are a lot of happy customers, because the service is free and they really appreciate that, he explains.

Emad and Garden see many faces, often new ones. There are families, children who change size at the pace of adventures, or students, especially international ones, full of curiosity in the extraordinary Norwegian nature. 

– It is funny when international students come in big groups. We can spend up to an hour helping them, says Emad.

Garden explains that Norwegian adult customers are more rare. Usually, that is usually because they have their own stuff.

It almost never happens that the equipment is not returned back. The free nature of the system fuels a sense of responsibility towards the gear.

– They take better care of the equipment they rent because it’s already in such good condition, Garden explains.

Exploring a foreign nature, finding adventure friends and new selves

They arrive in groups, still with the emotions all over them from the last experience, hoping to find what they need for the next activity. They are the international students, among Bua’s customers.

– Information about Bua’s existence has spread among exchange students and it became very famous, says Viola Torma (20), an erasmus student from Hungary.

She is bringing back skis and ice skates. Torma explains that she would not be able to go skiing if it was not for Bua. 

However, this time she did not find the cross-country skis she needs for next weekend, rightway. That is a common issue for international students who lack a Norwegian phone number for online bookings.

Struggle to choose their best experience

Because of Bua, Marina Batista (21), Caterina Pandella, (22), and Maria De Meireles (21), international students from Portugal, were able to go skiing for their first time.

– We were so excited and happy. We could see that Norwegians really like skiing and we loved watching three and four years old kids ski better than all of us! 

Camille Racineux (21) and Lola Henry (21), from France, waiting to return their skis, struggle to choose their best experience with Bua’s equipment. 

– I've been coming here almost every week since I heard about that from my flatmate, in September, after a month since I arrived in Norway, says Racineux.

She talks about the time when she went cross-country skiing and snowboarding in Ål. 

Henry instead, remembers the ice skating on a frozen lake and the chill cabin trip with her friends using Bua's snowshoes. 

These are some of the unforgettable memories that start from Bua.