Underground, Automated Bike Parking in Tokyo
Sam
Sent to you by Sam via Google Reader:
We recently learned about a great solution for cyclists in Tokyo: Underground bike parking garages.
This innovation answers a significant public need. According to the Earth Policy Institute, about 90 percent of people in Tokyo commute by rail, and 30 percent of those commuters also use a bicycle to reach their rail destination. That alone means a lot of bikes on the streets, and a high demand for storage that is safe and unobtrusive.
While we recognize that the need for parking space for bicycles in no way rivals the tremendous amount of land space that parked cars consume around the developed world, Tokyo's bike traffic does create somewhat of an inconvenience on city sidewalks. Here's an image of a mess of bike parking in Tokyo, courtesy of Danny Choo's blog:
But now commuters can safely, easily and quickly store their bikes using these automated kiosks that accept the bikes into an underground, rotating storage wheel where they remain safely until the user returns. Here's an image of what the device looks like on the inside (looking at it reminds me of watching the inner workings of jukeboxes when I was little ... or looking at a multi-disc CD changer):
Most of the storage facilities require a monthly membership, which costs around 2600 yen (about $29 U.S. dollars, or 21 Euro), with a discount available for students. The process of scanning a card and either depositing or retrieving a bicycle takes only seconds; definitely comparable to time spent securing most worthy bike locks, and much more convenient. You can see the whole process in the video below (watching this reminds me of waiting for my ball to come back at the bowling alley):
The device, called Eco-Cyle (not to be confused with the Colorado-based recycling organization), is manufactured by the international corporation Giken.
Smart innovations like this one are a great example of city infrastructure that supports multiple modes of transit, helping commuters, city planners and transportation departments alike move beyond car-centric thinking. I hope that its success translates into versions for more cities around the world in the near future.
All images from dannychoo.com
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(Posted by Julia Levitt in Transportation at 8:13 AM)
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Ananth R
This is incredibly cool. We could even integrate this system with Velib, and us folk who have our own bicycle can avail the parking facilities. The rest can use the Velib bicycles...
Thanks,
Ananth
