Skip to main content

Tokyo’s cycle parking problem solved

Cycles are a popular form of transportation in Japan. However, they can take up a lot of public space when parked. Japanese construction company Giken has come up with the answer; its Eco Cycle is an anti-seismic automated underground storage system. Buried eleven metres below ground, Eco Cycle has a capacity of around 200 cycles and each one takes around thirteen seconds to store. Users attach a sensor to their cycle, which alerts the Eco Cycle centre that a cycle is on its way. The user then rolls the f
August 9, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Cycles are a popular form of transportation in Japan. However, they can take up a lot of public space when parked.

Japanese construction company 7445 Giken has come up with the answer; its Eco Cycle is an anti-seismic automated underground storage system.  Buried eleven metres below ground, Eco Cycle has a capacity of around 200 cycles and each one takes around thirteen seconds to store.

Users attach a sensor to their cycle, which alerts the Eco Cycle centre that a cycle is on its way.  The user then rolls the front wheel into the opening of the parking machine, stands clear, and pushes a green button. In about eight seconds the bike is pulled into the kiosk and a robotic lift stores the cycle. To retrieve his cycle, the user simply waves his card over a sensor and the robotic arm pulls out the bicycle and brings it back up in approximately thirteen seconds.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • TfL to launch world-leading trials of intelligent pedestrian crossing technology
    March 7, 2014
    The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Transport for London (TfL) have outlined plans for trialling new pedestrian crossing sensors to help make it easier and safer for people to cross the road throughout the capital. The introduction of pedestrian Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique, or pedestrian SCOOT, is the first of its kind in the world and uses state-of-the-art video camera technology to automatically detect how many pedestrians are waiting at crossings. It enables the adjustment of traffi
  • Autonomous driving – what can we really expect?
    June 6, 2016
    Dave Marples of Technolution BV looks beyond the hype to the practical implementation of autonomous vehicles. Having looked at the development of this sector for some time, I am concerned about the current state of autonomous driving development as engineering (and marketing) have run way ahead of the wider systemic, and legislative, requirements to support an autonomous future.
  • Copenhagen ‘a haven for cyclists’
    January 9, 2015
    According to citymetric.com, Copenhagen is a haven for cyclists. They have a special orange cycling bridge over the harbour and everything from mail to Christmas trees is delivered by cycle. In the city there are more cycles than people, while a traffic system encourages the residents to cycle, with the promise of a stop-free ride into the city. It's all thanks to a traffic management system known as the Green Wave, which operates at peak times. Traffic signage is timed such that, if a cyclist travels at
  • First deployment for Libelium's Smart Parking sensor platform
    January 27, 2012
    Spain-headquartered Libelium, a specialist in wireless sensor networks, has announced the launch of its Waspmote-based Smart Parking platform, part of the company’s smart cities solution designed to be buried in parking spaces and to detect the arrival and departure of vehicles. The company says the platform, which will allow system integrators to offer comprehensive parking management solutions to city councils, will shortly be deployed in Santander, Spain.