When does a senior prank turn into a poignant commentary on American car culture?Earlier this week, the students at Rockford East High School in Illinois answered that question in spectacular form.Under the cover of darkness, illuminated only by the glow of several dozen LimeBike headlights, a group of East High seniors filled the school parking lot with colorful two-wheelers strategically positioned to occupy a single parking spot each.The result was both an entertaining inconvenience to faculty members and something significantly more insightful.

By visually highlighting the spatial disparity between car parking and bike parking, the students (perhaps unintentionally) made a strong case for why smart mobility platforms like Lime are so important to communities across the U.S. Are costly tracts of asphalt filled with a few dozen cars really the best way to make use of limited public space?

As if to drive home the point, the Rockford Register Star reports that the "students moved the bikes to a single spot on the lot later in the day" (our emphasis).

The stunt even caught the eye of Donald Shoup, Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA and author of The High Cost of Free Parking.

And here we thought senior pranks were just for laughs.The team at Lime sends our hearty congratulations the seniors at Rockford East High School, and we’d love to know the architect (or architects) behind this fantastic stunt. Give us a shout at [email protected] and we’ll make sure your next rides are on us!