Athens By Bike: A concept to reduce carbon emission

Loannina based designer, 'Marianna Pappa', has proposed a new concept for easy and greener transportation of tourists, who wish to visit the places of ancient importance in Greece. They may use these bikes to visit the historic center of Athens, and get them charged at the custom built terminals. They can also leave their bikes locked, while the charging process continues even when the biker is away from it. Titled as "Athens by bike", this project will be very efficient for such places, where millions of tourists visit every year. This concept will not only reduce the carbon emissions, but also make people aware of the availability of green resources.

Athens by bike

Inspiration:

Being in Greece, Marianna Pappa must be seeing millions of tourists, visiting her place every year. When the population increases, the amount of fuel consumption and the other basic needs will be more in demanded. It is a time consuming process to wait till people learn to understand about utilizing green resources. Instead, if they are made available, people will start using them and understand their uses by practice. The designer has rightly created an opportunity to make people choose green resources, especially for the tourists who visits places to enjoy their serene beauty and culture.

Design:

The highlight of this concept is the design of a central tower in its terminals. The vehicle extracts their charges from the individual booths, which are connected to the central tower. This tower is three to four times higher than the individual booths. A circular solar panel is equipped on top of the control tower, which helps to convert the solar energy into useful electrical energy. This energy is fed to the individual booths through their links. The total setup utilizes green energy extracted from the solar rays.

The concept is good but the availability of a single station won't help the tourists. That's why the designer proposed 11 custom built terminals in specific areas, which were selected around Athens. Tourists are expected to visit those places more likely. These stations provide the facility for the tourists to lock their bikes in the individual booths and get them charged. The tourists can also get information about maps, things to do, etc., on a screen for their knowledge. This concept will definitely provide a better way of sightseeing for tourists and travelers visiting Athens, Greece. Marianna's concept will inspire other countries also to improvise facilities for their visitors and provide a greener way of traveling.

However, the sharing bike concept has a few limitations. Tourists are often found in large numbers, which increases the demands as well as the need for more number of bikes. Tourists may not choose this option of traveling for long distance rides. The number of custom built terminals should also increase according to the increase in the number of bikes, which significantly increases the costs. All these options should be provided to the tourists and travelers for an affordable price, or else it will be very difficult for such system to survive. Being proposed the right concept, the real challenge lies in executing it, so as to reach the public effectively and with ease.