It could work like BCycle Madison, where they issue you a card (actually
a small RFID fob in the case of BCycle), but you can also use the credit
card you used to purchase the card to identify yourself at the kiosk.
Slot availability could be provided real-time online, just like BCycle,
with info at a full location of the nearest location(s) with openings.
BCycle could be the perfect model for this, logistically. In fact, they
should consider expanding into this business.
And it doesn't have to be just for a "nice" bike. If you don't want to
lug your helmet, gloves, hi-viz vest, etc. around, throw it all in the
locker when you park. Looks like rain, and no covered parking nearby?
Rent-a-locker. Picked up more at the farmers' market / gift fair / book
sale / beer store than you can carry home in one trip? Stick it in a
nearby rent-a-locker, ride your first load home, unload, come back for
the rest. I've done this and more with the locker I lease (I say "lease"
because you pay by the year, not by the month), and yes, I was on the
waiting list for it for THREE years, which speaks to the demand for such
facilities.
On 2013/07/03 08:42, S. Morris Rose wrote:
Here's a technology I've never seen deployed before:
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/bike/parking/index.html#on-demand-elockers
(This is in Seattle- that's a minor city near Tacoma that doesn't even
have a single professional basketball team.)
The basic idea is that you can rent one of these bike lockers by the
hour using a single-purpose credit card sized wallet. Users pay a
nickel an hour for time they reserve at the time of rental and twelve
cents an hour for overtime. The cards start with $20 of value, which
is 400 hours of reserved time, and can be reloaded in various ways.
Seems well thought out and affordable, though it would be nice to be
able to use the card for other stuff, or use other stuff (NFC cell
phone?) to use the system. One issue is that users can't know in
advance if a slot will be available, so need a plan B.
It will be interesting to see if this succeeds. If so, I would guess
that it will eventually be possible to check and reserve space online
to solve the Plan B problem, use other devices to transact, and use
them as budget love hotels.
--
Scott M. Rose
West Point Grey, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
--
Paul T. O'Leary
Chronic Nuisance
Madison, WI USA
_______________________________________________
Bikies mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
