Amsterdam Bike Vending Machines
By Rocky Thompson on August 30th, 2007
Get some Cheetos, a two-month-old muffin, and a little bike to ride around town at the same vending machine. Bike Dispenser runs these big vending machines so that tourists in Amsterdam can rent bikes easily. They require a credit card for rental, and the bikes are all tagged with RFID chips so you can call Bike Dispenser and ask where you parked your ride after an afternoon of hopping between coffee shops. They can also use the RFID chip to track it down if it’s stolen, but I don’t think the rental fee includes dredging the canals so you better have a decent lock.
via The Cool Hunter
[...] Toronto police are fitting a couple expensive bikes around the U of T campus with GPS tracking devices to catch thieves. It’s the same thing Amsterdam did with their vending machine rental bikes, but the Toronto police are running the program to deter bike thefts. They made four arrests on the first day of Bike Bait in September and since then five more. The dream outcome of the Bike Bait program would be that bike thieves become so discouraged that they begin stealing cars—that way we could deter drivers from bringing their cars to campus. [...]