Interesting to note – as of 2007, more humans live in cities than at any other point in our collective history. 3.3 billion of us call cities around the world home, and that number is expected to grow to 5 billion by the year 2030. Increasing population means a rise in density, and pretty soon we’ll live closer to each other than ever. This means that we’ll have easier access to the grocery store and our friends’ houses, but what about traffic? Such an increase in population is likely to make the morning commute that much more of a nightmare. Even increases in public transportation and carpooling aren’t projected to clear up the freeways during rush hour. One solution to this? Self-powered transportation. Commuting by bicycle and on foot has been increasing gradually across the country in recent years. Along with being a healthy efficient alternative to a car or bus commute, bicycles are relatively low-maintenance. The one problem? Storage. Bicycle theft, especially in dense urban areas, is a real problem and unlucky victims of bike theft have quickly learned that keeping their bike safe from theft is a game of luck – even the most secure lock can be broken.

A new bike storage solution, the Bike Tree, is aiming to help reduce bike theft and encourage bicycle commuting by providing innovative, above-ground storage.
This unique bike elevator takes the concept of bike lockers and “cages” already popular in many large cities and makes it more secure. Instead of using a key to access the bikes, users must have a smart card with permission to raise and lower the bike carrel. This kind of solution is perfect for urban office environments. An office in a city could assign employee smart cards for identification, access control, and access to the bike tree.