Newly Launched RFID Bicycle Sharing Project in Chicago
Chicago is one of the cities with the largest number of bicycle users in the United States. The city’s new RFID bicycle sharing project, the B-cycle.B-cycle, was designed by Humana, Trek Bicycle Corp and Crispin Porter+Bogusky to promote public health and improve Environmental awareness.
Bicycle sharing systems are not uncommon in the United States. Last year, Denver City has introduced a B-station system. The B-station system consists of an automatic car lock rack, an automated kiosk similar to an ATM machine, and a Trek bicycle. Each lock rack of the B-cycle system includes an RFID reader that reads the embedded low-frequency RFID tag of the automobile, identifies the bicycle, and associates it with the identity of the renter.
The user can pay by credit card; when the user swipes the credit card to pay at the kiosk, he chooses to press the identification button next to a bicycle to unlock the bicycle from the shelf. The user can also use an RFID B-card and place the card next to an advertisement sticker next to the button so that the reader obtains a unique identification code written into the tag memory.
The device then forwards this information to a central B-cycle database via the Internet in the station. If the system determines that the user account is in a normal state, the master database instructs the B-station to unlock the bicycle. Regardless of whether the user rents a bicycle through a credit card or a B-card, the rack reader collects the ID code of the bicycle RFID tag before the bicycle is removed.
The reader then forwards the ID code to a central database so that the system knows the correspondence between the bicycle and the user. The Chicago B-cycle project has implemented six B-stations and involved 100 bicycles.
Bicycle sharing systems are not uncommon in the United States. Last year, Denver City has introduced a B-station system. The B-station system consists of an automatic car lock rack, an automated kiosk similar to an ATM machine, and a Trek bicycle. Each lock rack of the B-cycle system includes an RFID reader that reads the embedded low-frequency RFID tag of the automobile, identifies the bicycle, and associates it with the identity of the renter.
The user can pay by credit card; when the user swipes the credit card to pay at the kiosk, he chooses to press the identification button next to a bicycle to unlock the bicycle from the shelf. The user can also use an RFID B-card and place the card next to an advertisement sticker next to the button so that the reader obtains a unique identification code written into the tag memory.
The device then forwards this information to a central B-cycle database via the Internet in the station. If the system determines that the user account is in a normal state, the master database instructs the B-station to unlock the bicycle. Regardless of whether the user rents a bicycle through a credit card or a B-card, the rack reader collects the ID code of the bicycle RFID tag before the bicycle is removed.
The reader then forwards the ID code to a central database so that the system knows the correspondence between the bicycle and the user. The Chicago B-cycle project has implemented six B-stations and involved 100 bicycles.