A Helmet for Your Bike Share Ride

If you live in a city that has a bike share program, one thing you'll see is people using the bikes to run errands, go to lunch, etc...  One thing you won't see a lot of, is people wearing helmets on those bikes.

Some cities are trying different programs to make helmets available to the bike share users - my city, Salt Lake City, offers a free Bern helmet painted up to match the bike share bikes to those who sign up for an annual membership.

Boston has come up with a unique program, rental helmets.

A group of MIT students came up with the idea of a bicycle helmet vending machine as a class project.

The Helmet Hub machine can rent and receive up to 36 helmets, in 3 different sizes. Cost is reported to be around $2/24 hours, or $20 to buy one.

For those of you who are grossed out right now about the thought of putting on a helmet that someone has returned, just think about the last time you went bowling...  All of the returned helmets will be disinfected and sanitized before being returned to the field.