Social/Mobile Bike Sharing Concept

While the current bicycle sharing model is centered around the idea of static hubs spaced throughout a city where bikes can be picked up and dropped off, the Samsung Freecycle concept envisions a mobile/social system where bikes are connected to each other and riders wirelessly.

It works like this: locate a nearby bicycle on the map using your Samsung device; send a message to the current rider asking for access; user sends a message back with the okay; device is plugged into handlebar mounted cradle; bike and device communicate and you’re off. The Samsung device would charge while the bike is in use with the added benefit of features such as navigation and guided tours that provide a richer riding experience.

A great idea in theory, but there’s a lot of moving parts in the system’s design that could potentially break down. While the current model already asks a lot of its riders in terms of respect and responsibility (achieving mixed results), the Freecycle setup does even more so, relying on the community to manage itself. Sure there might be a bike around the corner, but if the other rider doesn’t answer his/her message, you’re out of luck, though this could likely be avoided with a time limit and network that only displays “available” bikes. The placement of hubs within an environment increases the likelihood that a bike will always be within convenient reach, whereas this system offers no such guarantees, which is why it might be better suited to more condensed areas like college campuses.

Asking someone to carry around yet another digital device could prove problematic too, but we suspect that a system could be adapted to work on existing smartphone platforms. A development that would create more of an instant “audience,” while working alongside the increasing shift to digital in the real world. But we don’t recommend texting while pedaling, find another rider to chat with instead.

[via Yanko Design]