BICYCLE RENTAL SYSTEM AND STATION

摘要

A bicycle rental system and automated station that may be integrated with an automobile parking payment and management system. Users may pay for parking and/or rent and pickup bicycles at the station. The station has a meter, bicycle docks, and power plant. Transaction formalities for parking payment and rental may be handled at the meter. The bicycle docks each are adapted to secure a bicycle. The power plant uses a solar panel to collect power and stores it in energy storage device. Low-power operation may be achieved by placing some electronics in a low-power mode. Each bicycle dock may have a trigger mechanism that when activated powers on associated electronics. The bicycle docks may be divided among a number of bicycle modules. The bicycle modules provide flexibility and modularity so that the number of bicycle docks at a station may be changed.