Bicycling

Bike/bus and bike/stroller merge bicycling and kids' travel

by David Alpert   •   February 20, 2012 12:27 pm

In an alternate universe where much of our daily travel happens by bicycle, people would apply to bicycles some of the engineering and design ingenuity that goes into products like cars and baby strollers.

Or maybe they already do, especially in the alternate universe known as the Netherlands, where far more travel does happen by bicycle. Two fascinating bicycle products integrate bicycling into elements of everyday family travel.

Kid-powered bicycle school bus. Image from YES! Magazine.

A school bus is powered by the kids pedaling to get to school, and has a backup motor for when the kids aren't on board.

It's not the only pedal-powered bus, either. They've sold 25 of the $15,000 bus/bikes, thus far all in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, BeyondDC recently linked to a 2009 UK Daily Mail article about a stroller (or "buggy" in British) called Taga which converts to and from a bicycle, so that a "yummy mummy" can "pedal to shops," getting exercise and saving "petrol," and then turn the unit back into a "pushchair" to walk around with the child.

Taga. Images from the UK Daily Mail via BeyondDC.

We could use these here in the "States," too! In early 2010 it looked like these were coming to America, but now the Taga store locator webpage just says they are out of stock.

Did these turn out to be too expensive for a mass market? Can some major manufacturer get on this, work out a licensing deal, mass-produce some more cheaply and merchandise them at major baby stores?

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.