BART debuts “e-lockers”

San Francisco-based Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) implemented a system that allows cyclists to store their bicycles in new electronic lockers for three cents an hour using a smart card.  

The BART Board of Directors voted unanimously to set the fee for BART-owned “e-lockers”. The lockers will be installed at eight BART stations this year. Unlike the key lockers currently used at some stations, one e-locker could be rented by as many as five cyclists in one week, using smart-card technology.  

To use the e-lockers, a cyclist purchases a smart card online for $20, and uses the card to open an available locker by sliding the card into a computerized reader. The cyclist is charged three cents an hour while their card is renting the locker. When the cyclist returns to the locker and inserts the smart card to remove the bicycle, the rental fee is deducted from the card balance. 

Cards are available at www.bikelink.org. E-lockers operated by outside entities are already installed at four stations. BART will add 198 of its own e-lockers to eight stations by July, and 220 e-lockers at 12 additional stations in 2009. The key lockers now at some stations will eventually be phased out.