06.02.12
Annoying Geek Chronicles (a series)
There’s never a day when some annoying nerd has a story to tell about his revolutionary app, social and smart, for changing the world. Always, they’re trivial solutions to minor annoyances or non-problems, just ways for the geek to make money siphoning cash from one established process to a new one owned by the tech revolutionary, or creative destroyer, or whatever.
All you have to do is wave an iPhone, mention “app” and “social,” and your inane idea is considered gold by the gullible.
From the wire, the “social bike,” empowered by iJunk:
[Ryan Rzepeki’s] new company, Social Bicycles, also called SoBi, will launch a pilot program “at the end of the summer??? in Buffalo and two unnamed West Coast cities soon after, Rzepecki says. It’s not just the model that he has going for him, it’s also the data.
‘I looked at the model in Europe, where there are big docking stations and kiosks,??? said Rzepecki. “It’s very expensive. I thought, what if they have smart bikes rather than smart bike racks????
It is that idea of a smart bike – and a mobile app to connect all those bikes – that is at the heart of Social Bicycles. Once you subscribe to the service, the app will tell where the closest sharable bike is …
“We definitely see the software, electronics and tracking package, working for other parts of transportation,??? said Rzepecki. “We’re Interested in looking at other modes. You don’t need a five ton steel cage to go a few miles.???
Never been to southern California, let alone Pasadena. Bicycling in large numbers is a total non-starter. Lotsa reasons: heat, traffic, culture, sweat, and the vague antipathy almost everyone holds for the few weaving fitness freak guys and gals in spandex and helmets on Saturday morning between Sierra Madre and eastern Pasadena near the high school.
Perhaps surprising to others, soCal has quite a few people who DO NOT have cars. Largely, they still do not gravitate to bikes. They use shoe leather and work in service near their homes. Or they use public transportation, albeit mediocre to poor.
Collect data from a potential fleet of such bikes? Who cares? Collecting data on vehicular traffic flow — that’s where action is.
And I’ll avoid the glaring distinctions between European city life and American, particularly in the hinterlands, even in college towns.
So go to Europe already. What’s with the pilot program in two “unnamed” West Coast cities stuff?