San Antonio’s wheel of a deal, bike share program
The City Council of San Antonio has approved an RFID-enabled bike sharing, rental and tour program, according to a local news report. B-Cycle, who also supplied a similar system in Denver, will supply the system that consists of locking bike racks and a kiosk similar to an ATM, which enables users to purchase a short-term membership.
Serving residents and visitors, the initial program will consist of 140 bikes at 14 locations that will be supported by a central hub.
To get a bike users press a button next to the bicycle they want, which then activates a RFID reader embedded in the rack. The user’s information is relayed to a central B-cycle database to confirm the user’s account is in good standing. If so, the user receives audible feedback that the bicycle is unlocked and a green light next to the bike flashes.
Before each bike is removed, the reader collects the ID number encoded to a similar RFID tag attached to the bike. The device then forwards this number to the central database, so that the system knows which particular bike to associate with which user.
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