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

  • Sampo Hietanen’s mobility mission
    June 17, 2016
    For a decade Sampo Hietanen harboured a vision of an alternative form of mobility, now as CEO of MaaS Finland he is putting theory into practice. Sampo Hietanen has become the embodiment of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – a concept he created 10 years ago while working for Finnish civil engineering giant Destia. “I had been working with the mobile sector on traffic information and started thinking what will happen when this becomes bigger,” he says.
  • London leads on open transport data
    May 16, 2016
    London has come out on top of an analysis of the performance of several major cities in providing open data on transport and mapping. The Future Spaces Foundation, a charity that studies living spaces, has said in its Vital Cities: Transport Systems Scorecard that London’s record of providing open access to real time transport data is the best example of data sharing. The Scorecard analyses the transport networks of 12 cities around the world on indicators ranging from breathability to the density of
  • Cycle safety device alerts truck drivers
    May 2, 2013
    An innovative cycle safety device designed to alert truck drivers to the presence of a cyclist is about to be launched. The Cycle Alert system not only alerts drivers to a potential risk in areas frequented by cyclists, it also facilitates a direct warning from a cyclist straight to the vehicle driver. The system has three elements: a unit that is fitted to the bicycle, or worn by a cyclist on their person or helmet, sensors that are fitted to the HGV and a cab-mounted device to alert the driver. The three
  • Keeping over-height and overheating vehicles out of tunnels
    October 7, 2013
    A review of pre-warning solutions for problematic commercial vehicles approaching tunnels