Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Rolls-out London’s First Keyless Bike Hangars

This week the RBKC, deployed two FalcoPod ‘smart’ bike hangars in their residential network to become the first London Borough to introduce a keyless system. The FalcoPod hangars, designed by Falco, are the UK’s first bike hangar which has no visible lock.

The ‘keyless’ idea was developed to increase vandal resistance and discourage theft, by completely removing the lock altogether. The new FalcoPod design incorporates two 6KN locks to provide additional strength and an easy-to-use system of hangar use.

Features and benefits of the UK's first keyless bike hangar include:

• Completely app based, removing the need for physical keys, fobs and swipe cards.
• Both Android and Apple IOS compatible. 
• Secure Bluetooth connection. 
• Remote Falco / client based management system. 
• Cloud based - no wi-fi connection required.
• Retrofittable and backward compatible to all UK bike hangar designs.
• User management - access rights controlled from remote management system.
• Booking systems - has optional integrated booking system.
• Usage planning - comprehensive back-office provides full statistical data.
• Cost-effective - cheaper than using traditional locking systems.
• Secure and patented technology (application number GB2012118.2).

FalcoSmart Mobile App Lock

Users are able to download an ‘app’ to their mobile or smart device and once enabled by Falco’s back office system, the user can open the bike hangar simply by pressing the app. Working on a short-range wireless communication interface, an app-based system brings a number of benefits to all parties:

  • For users, it will offer a simpler option - no more keys or fobs.
  • For the client it will be cheaper – it’s a more cost efficient bike rental system to offer residents.
  • For the operator it will be simpler and more eco-friendly - less administration and less paper.

A further benefit to clients using the FalcoSmart electronic lock concept is that it can also be integrated into hubs and other cycle stores, so for instance a local authority which has a network of both bike hangars and cycle hubs can give residents access to their local bike hangar to pick up their bike for the morning commute and then enable them to use the same app to access the central bike hub at their local station. The back-office control means that each person can have a tailored access profile unique to them but controlled by the Borough based on their subscription. As a result of its importance to Falco and our clients we now have a patent pending on this concept (application number GB2012118.2).

For more information about the UK's first keyless bike hangar or the FalcoSmart app based locking system, please contact our helpful sales team on 01538 380080.