Oy---Veh! Rental bikes by cellphone!
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Tue August 24 2004
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Posted Aug 24, 2004
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This might have application to DSM or the Iowa City Bike-
Library Folks!
Phones power bike rental scheme
Dot.life - where technology meets life, every Monday
By Mark Ward
BBC News Online technology correspondent
Public transport is part of the daily routine of millions
of people, but few are actually delivered right to their
final destination.
All too often journeys involve a frustrating combination of
buses, trains or tubes - all punctuated by lengthy waits
for a service to arrive.
Then there's the issue of what can be a long walk from your
stop to the place you actually want to go.
One solution might be Oybike, a new mobile phone-operated
bicycle rental scheme designed to make getting around
easier and faster. Oybikes have 24 rental stations
It is being trialled in Hammersmith and Fulham, west
London, where a number of rental stations have been set up,
but its inventors hope it will soon be extended.
Oybikes have 24 rental stations
Rental fees
Anyone wanting to use an Oybike signs up and pays a £10
annual fee, then uses their mobile phone to unlock a bike
for as long as they need.
The phone receives a pin number to unlock the bike at the
start of a journey and a second one to lock it at the end
and to determine how much the rider is charged.
OYBIKE CHARGES
0 - 15 minutes = 30p
16 - 30 minutes = 80p
31 minutes - one hour = £2
One to eight hours = £8
Hire prices start at 30p for 15 minutes and rise to £8 for
up to eight hours of time on an Oybike.
The first 28 rental stations are at locations including
tube and train stations, theatres and cinemas. There are
plans to introduce more, so Oybike collection and drop-off
is easier.
Suit wearers will be happy to know that the Oybikes do not
use chains, so there's little chance of getting oil on your
clothes.
Bernie Hanning, inventor of the Oybike technology and
founder of the project, said: "We want it to become another
component in the public transport system," he said. "It
will be like having a bicycle in your mobile phone."
Mini-city
Hammersmith and Fulham was chosen because it has "a lot of
tube stations where people do not get straight to their
destination," said Mr Hanning.
Also important was the enthusiastic support of the local
council, as Oybike needs permission to put its rental
stations on the borough's pavements.
Mr Hanning said Hammersmith and Fulham was like a mini-city
as it had 24 tube stations, two football grounds and an
exhibition centre.
The rental stations and bicycles have been in place for
almost three weeks and have so-far withstood the area's
vandals.
"There were a few tires let down and some bell caps taken
but that's about all," My Hanning said.
The Oybikes are now being tested by local companies and
user groups to see exactly how useful they find them.
<
BR>
Mr Hanning said many commuters might want to use them
because many train firms running services into London ban
bikes at the busiest times of the day.
The recent tube strike also got a lot of people interested
in finding out about other ways to get around, he said. <
BR>
"The interest has been really more than we hoped for
because we have not pushed out any PR or properly launched
it," he told BBC News Online.
Other bike rental schemes exist, but Mr Hammond believes
none are as hi-tech as Oybike.
Smart Bike in France uses smart cards, while others are
coin-operated.
At the end of a six months trial, it is planned that the
system will be handed over to a social enterprise scheme.
"We expect to be expanding across London quite quickly,"
said Mr Hanning.
Additional articles along with the original source for
this article (which include pictures) can be found at:
The Organization's site:
http://www.oybike.com/
More commentary:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3856535.stm
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/07/06.html
---Robert