Jeffbeerman2

https://gizmodo.com/381738/japanese-m...icycle-parking

unkchunk

Don't have to carry any locks and a 22.8 second retrieval time? Yeah, I'm "hoping that they proliferate" too.

derath

That's awesome. Reminds me of my automatic CD carousel plugged into my computer.

-D

AEO

It's more of a solution to overcrowded parking lots, but basically what's said.
"Can store 9400 bikes at that station."
"one unit can store 180 bikes, and 36 of them are in place." + regular level parking
"each unit is appx. 7m wide and 15m deep"
"parking cost is $1 for one day, or $18 per month"

I think it's way better than that dorky device that lifts your bike into the tree.
Idea is basically a miniaturized version of the car parking they have in Japan though.

Don't see it happening in places where there's a lot of room and management is too cheap to pay for high volume parking.

paulwwalters

WOW!!! That is soo cool!!!!!

d2create

Woahhhh... that looks like The Matrix!

mike

Multi-level bicycle parking is common in Japan, but the automated bicycle storage garage with the elevator is something very unique and really cool! Thanks for the news and the link to the vid.

I think it is difficult for most people to comprehend the bicycle "problem" in Japan. Bicycles are cheap. People are affluent, so bicycles are the new gum wrapper in Japan: Use it, and toss it. Some sidewalks are so jammed full of static bicycles that you can barely walk. People honestly figure it is easier to buy a new bicycle than to look for their old one, so they abandon their perfectly good bicycle and get a new one.

So it is no wonder that the Japanese would come up with bicycle parking solutions. Still, it is cool.

You go, Hashimoto san!

BCRider

Density can be a real *****.

Consider that in Japan the requirement of intercity air traffic is such that they are using Jumbos and larger Airbus' on local hops just to move the number of people. In other parts of the world this is easily handled with smaller airplanes like Dash-8's or 737's or similar. But over there they can't put any more flights into the sky in a safe manner so they are using heavy carry airplanes to handle the volumes instead.

And yeah, I can see that bicycle storage unit appearing in some grade B Sci Fi flicks soon enough...

bizzz111

I think my xtracycle would get mangled in that thing.

ericy

Holy cow, that's cool...

ericy

The implication from the video is that there are multiple units at the station. Someone upthread said 36. So if you had 100 people wanting to park a bicycle, there would really be only 3 people at each unit if they were evenly spread about. That wouldn't be so bad.

RayB

I would love it if they stuck one of those things at Ueno. Really solves the security problem as well unless the machine goofs and gives your bike away to some obaasan.

AEO

it holds 180 (standard sized) bikes with 36 units and that only adds up to 6480, so there's also 2920 regular lots.
I can imagine 3~4 together at a train station in Canada or USA would be more than enough to handle rush capacity.

mike

I was just thinking. It is cheaper to buy a bicycle in Japan than it is to take a taxi across Tokyo. No wonder they have so many bicycles laying around!

Did you ever notice how all the bicycles in Japan are nearly all the same - same design, nearly the same size, same wheel size. I suppose it makes the bicycle parking system a lot easier.

The USA probably has the most diverse bicycles in use. You see new road bikes, mountain bikes, old ten-speeds, cruisers, comfort bikes, and other odds and ends.

stevage

During a very brief trip to Japan, I saw a huge pile of abandoned bikes that must have been 2-3 metres high, on the side of a road. I just couldn't comprehend it.

Must be awesome for spare parts though

Steve

RayB

Its places like this that your bike ends up if hauled off from the train station

derath

Ok so what I don't get then. If bikes are so cheap they are a disposable item, why would someone spend $$$ just to park it?

-D

I-Like-To-Bike

I prefer free parking at the train station.



Amsterdam


Leiden

Or my ole' home town Heidelberg Hbf, front and side views below:

ericy

Or more to the point, are these cheap China bikes that they use over there these days? If that were the case, I could see people treating them as disposable.

ItsJustMe

I thought of that, but it would be trivial for them to make the doors right there at the beginning detect if a bike that was too long was put in. If the doors didn't close, open them back up and spit out the bike, refuse to take it.

AEO

Because space in Japan is a premium?
that and $18 per month + monthly transit pass is nothing compared to owning a car, or having to buy a new bike every month because it was impounded.

I like free parking too, but those devices are sheltered parking, like bike lockers.

Japan has limits to how high or deep a structure can be built with people regularly inside because of natural disasters.
That device overcomes the building regulation by having an unmanned device go another 15m deeper than underground.

I-Like-To-Bike

Sheltered from what? The weather? IMO - BFD.

RayB

Perhaps thieves?

Lurch

In Amsterdam, they are constantly dredging old bikes out of the canals. It's sort of like street sweeping here. Apparently, it's an attractive disposal method for old or hot bikes when the user is finished with them. We saw a small barge piled high with mostly rusty bicycles.

ft_critical

I think the stacked car parks are more interesting - you drive your car onto a metal disc. This rotates your car around and then it disappears below ground and gets stacked away somewhere. let me see if I can dig up a photo.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvV9c...eature=related

This is the idea. In some though it is a tiny little space you drive into.