The Brompton Dock is a clever take on Park and Ride schemes. Instead of parking your car on the edge of town and taking the bus to the center, you rock up at a railway station, check out a Brompton folding bike and hop on the train. Then, when you reach your stop, you unfold the bike and go on your way.
The scheme is being tested by South West trains in England. 40 Bromptons are stored in a block of lockers on the platform. You swipe your membership card and take a bike. From there you get to keep it for the whole day before returning it on your way home. Each bank of lockers holds 40 bikes.
The fees are tiny. You pay £50 ($80) per year to join, and as little as £1.60 ($2.60) per day for rental (prices rise to £4 ($6.50) per day if you don't opt for a weekly or monthly plan, but this is still dirt cheap). Given that a Brompton starts at around £760 ($1,220), you could ride every day for a year and a half before you spent as much.
The big question is how do you get to the station to begin with? Maybe you drive, or walk if you can. But if you're going to ride a Brompton every day, why not just buy one and ride it to the station as well? If you're going straight to the office, the bike will probably never get stolen.
In fact, the hardest part of this scheme might be nothing to do with the bikes themselves. Instead, the real problem could be convincing your boss to install showers at the office.
Brompton Dock [Brompton Dock via EcoVelo]
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