Bicycle sharing kiosks have been popping up all over the country from Texas to Hawaii this year, making the B-cycle kiosks designed by KIOSK Information Systems one of the year's largest kiosk deployments. (Trek makes the bikes and owns B-cycle.)

The B-cycle program allows users to rent a bike via kiosks in one area of his city and return it when finished to that same location or to a different one in the city, said Tim Stith, midwest region sales manager, KIOSK.

The kiosks, which consist of the fixed kiosk rental station/bicycle docks, and 10-12 bikes/each, run on solar and/or AC power. The power system includes a solar panel/batteries and a charge controller board. The kiosk houses a low-power outdoor color LCD, credit/member card reader, cellular communications kit, and energy efficient, outdoor rated mini-PC. Docking stations house a custom controller board, a proprietary locking mechanism, LED indicators, and an inventory RFID reader.

First-time or non-members rent at the kiosk, but B-Connected Card Holders can bypass the kiosk and check out at the docking station by passing their card over the RFID reader, releasing the bike in seconds, Stith said.

So far, deployments are in Denver and Boulder, Colo.; Omaha; Spartanburg, S.C.; Des Monies, Iowa; San Antonio, Texas; Kailua, Hawaii; Madison, Wis.; Chicago and throughout Florida. Baltimore's service will open in the spring, Stith said.