Wait for the Bus, Charge Your Phone

Pensa’s Street Charge concept lets you charge your phone and have a nice place to set your coffee while you wait for the bus.

LOS ANGELES —Every time I travel, whether that be the airplane, a train or even a bus, I see them: kiosks where you can charge your phone or laptop while you wait for your departure. It’s a brilliant idea for travelers, who might find themselves between flights in need of some juice.

I’d always wondered why chargers aren’t more common outside travel contexts. Indeed, in the developing world, I often see them posted in kiosks and markets. But in the US, there seems to be an underlying assumption that you’ll find a way to get more juice.

With smartphones demanding more and more power, we need a solution. Why not charge up while waiting for the bus?

Design consultancy Pensa’s new video concept has gone viral for showing how a getting a charge and waiting for the bus might be compatible. With a simple stand to hold your phone and solar energy cells overhead, the Street Charge concept would help make productive use of all that time spent waiting for the bus — time we usually spend swiping and tapping on our phones anyway.

The biggest problem is highlighted by Night Eagle’s comment on their video:

“It looks fantastic but, seems like it would need to be designed a bit more vandal resistant for and urban environment.”

The thin stand reads very much like a concept video, just waiting to be torn apart in real life (not to mention that setting your phone down in an open space is just asking to have it stolen). But sturdy it up a bit, make it street proof and they might just have a winning idea.