Articles, Industrial Design, Service Design, Social Change

Having spent my final year of school at Carleton University’s school of Industrial Design working exclusively on products that were ‘eco-friendly’, I feel slightly jaded when it comes to ‘green design’. Frankly the majority of it out there currently is simply a cash grab, hoping to cash in the latest design trend that has permeated the mainstream consumer base. It’s hip to be green right now, but that has yet to translate into the kind of positive results that some may have hoped for initially. That being said, every once in a while, a genuine diamond in the rough is found. Such is the case with the Montreal born BIXI system.

Bixi is a bicycle-taxi system, (which is also where it gets its name), that is currently being used in the city of Montreal, but is soon to be rolling out in London and Boston. The new public bike system is designed to help alleviate traffic in the urban area is accessible to everyone in the city from May to November and it is doing so in a manner that is actually beneficial for all involved. Obviously, biking is a healthier choice than driving a car, both for the exercise and reduction of carbon emissions, but were it a standard bicycle taxi system, this would not be garnering the same international attention.

The amount of detail and attention that went into the system seems to be quite comprehensive, which is a necessity in such a gargantuan undertaking. The bikes are manufactured from durable aluminum, doing away with worries of rust.

Click the image for a CNN Video on Bixi

Perhaps just as importantly, the bikes have enclosed gears, preventing grease and oil from getting on the clothes (or tearing them) of professionals looking to do their part to help the environment. The stations at which the bikes are docked are wireless, and powered by solar panels, a technology the city uses for its parking meters as well. The modular design is ready to accept credit cards and is wi-fi enabled, and the stations can be fairly easily moved about (or more added) in response to greater or lesser user adoption in different areas of the city.

The Bixi system does much to earn the mantle of a legitimate green design, but in addition to those already mentioned, it almost exclusively utilizes local parts and manufacturing as well. The small distance of travel for “more than 97 per cent of the system” helps to keep the overall carbon footprint of the Bixi low, and is an area often neglected by ‘green design’. (Montreal Gazette) It goes without saying that is also beneficial in that they are adding local jobs into an economy at a time when few are.

What really piqued my interest about this whole system, is that it is not the idea child of a well known ‘global innovation firm’ like frog design, or even of an up and coming ‘design club’, such as the Object Design League. Rather the system came to be because of a small group of executives saw the potential in the technology currently being used for parking meters, and set out to apply it to public bike transit. Bringing their ideas together they then brought it to a well known Montreal native industrial designer, Michel Dallaire, who helped bring their ideas to life. Michel signed several patents back to the non-profit organization. In other words, while the overall package may be his design work, he will not receive any royalties, no matter how big of a national and international success it may become.

What was so interesting to me, was that such an idea for the Bixi system, came not from a thinktank of designers, but rather from ‘civilians’ who looked at a technology that was in plain view of everyone, and thought of how it could be applied to a different area to help solve a completely different problem. As a designer, it makes me wonder just how many solutions to problems are staring at us in the face on a daily basis. How many times do we walk by points of inspiration and potential solutions in our own lives without even giving them a second thought? These people were able to take an ordinary object, and the technology behind it (which admittedly is current), and were able to transfer over the benefits of the technology without limiting the new product. It is a great example of the design process and how following the process (regardless of whether they knew they were or not) can lead to truly exceptional designs. The problem was identified, the rough blueprint for the solution was found in Paris’ Vélib system, and the technology to improve upon the design was on hand. Bringing them all together through the input of the non-profit group Public Bike System Company and the design savvy of Michel Dallaire, they were able to create a product that does what so many try to do, and so few do, be truly advantageous to consumers and relevant to the times. So when you are doing your daily routine today, try to look at your surroundings with different eyes, and see what you can find. What is it that you see?