Scientists take high-tech gear on tour with box-bike

ROTTERDAM – Wageningen meteorologists use a specially outfitted version of the traditional three-wheeler freight bike contraption, known by the Dutch as ‘bakfiets’ (which translates as box bike). Popular with bread and grocery peddlers in earlier decades, the modern version of three-wheeler has been discovered as a vehicle of choice by high-tech agencies such as the Wageningen University and even Google Photography, which use it for hard-to-reach places or car-free areas. The meteorologists were seen peddling around the Rotterdam city core, while their high-tech gauges and antennas monitored temperatures and graded the quality of the air. They wanted to check if it is true that temperatures in city cores rise faster than elsewhere. The cycling team of researchers also paid a visit to the eastern Dutch city of Arnhem.