4 December 2012

Japan’s Automated Underground Bicycle Parking Lot

[Click here to view the video in this article]







An excerpt from an episode of Culture Japan—a program that brings Japanese pop culture to the world—features Japan’s unique high-tech automated bike-parking system.



Called ‘Eco Cycle’, the bike parks’ concept consists of a “robotic valet system”—where riders submit their bicycles to the machine for it to be parked underground, in exchange for a ticket.



This underground automated parking system ensures the bike’s safety, and protects the bikes from getting stolen and vandalized, and from the bad weather.



With one machine able to hold up to 200 bicycles, Eco Cycle also allows more space on the surface for other things—which makes the city appear “cleaner”.



To retrieve their bikes, users just have to scan their ticket for the machine to identify the bike and return it to the surface within seconds.



Users just have to be careful not to lose their ticket.





















































[via YouTube]