Anyone whos travelled by plane understands that strange, empty feeling you get when you're killing time in the airport before your flight. You quickly run out of things to look at on your phone (or the fucken thing dies) and you don’t want to stray too far from the gate in case the plane sneaks off without you, so you’re stuck in a scratchy chair with nothing but your thoughts, which, undistracted by the endless scrolling of the Bad Blue Website, are straying dangerously close to “maybeI should open a whiskey bar.“
Brisbane International Airport is obviously aware of this sinister phenomenon, as they’ve gone ahead and filled their terminal with phone-charging stationary bike kiosks. Yep, they are exactly what they sound like: you sit on a (comfy, minimalist) gym bike attached to a counter with power outlets, and if you pedal hard enough, you can charge your phone.
The ChargeBikesÂstations (…that’s the name you’re going with? Okay) are sustainably made by a BelgianÂcompany, and seem to be a novel way of combating the dead periods endemic to airports. Now, you can get some cardio in before you undo it all with two weeks straight of an all-ramen diet.
The kiosks are free to use, and Clint Harvey, the business development manager at Brisbane Airport Corporation, said that he got the idea to install them after seeing similar setups in European airports and train stations, telling the ABC:
"The concept started in Belgium and France and we thought it would make a unique experience for the airport and wanted to be the first in Australia to do it.“
The bikes are currently in the check-in area of the international terminal if you’re keen to get some spins in, and there are plans to expand to domestic departures as well. No more obsessing over air accident stats before you climb aboard: just pedalling full tilt towards your next tweet.
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