Smart bikes

Admit it – you’re guilty. At least if you’ve ever driven in the downtown area of a major metropolitan city. You are guilty of being driven to distraction – and frustration – by a cyclist.

Oh, you concede cyclists are much more eco-conscientious than you in your car – but cyclists can be something of a rogue element on the road.  Definitely in need of a bit of organization. This phenomenon is even more pronounced in high-density cities, like Copenhagen.

That’s why MIT researchers unveiled a major new project – SmartBiking – in Denmark’s largest city. It aims to do nothing less than transforming bicycle use, promoting urban sustainability and building new connections between the city’s cyclists. The idea is to make bikes more appealing.

Copenhagen was a natural choice for the study. 30 to 40 per cent of its residents already use bikes as their primary transportation. The project aims to encourage even more Danes to ride their bikes, partly by forging social networks among them.

A Facebook application called “I crossed your path” was launched, allowing cyclists to link up with people they may have ridden past during the day. Or, to establish new connections – for business or, ahem, personal reasons.

Bikes will be fitted with smart tags to allow individuals to monitor the distance they travel while cycling as part of a citywide “green mileage” initiative. Sound familiar?  The concept is freely borrowed from frequent-flyer programs.

As far as MIT or the city of Copenhagen can tell, this is the first program of its kind in the world. That’s the thing with good ideas, though: they tend to spread.