TORONTO – Buried under the streets of Tokyo, a rare inside look at Japan’s underground bicycle storage system looks more like a scene from a sci-fi movie than parking storage.
Developed by construction solutions company GIKENT, the ECO Cycle underground bicycle parking system was designed to tackle the over-crowded bike parking issues in urban areas of Japan.
Since its implementation in 2010, the city says illegally parked bicycles has drastically decreased from the area.
With five underground storage bicycle storage facilities in total, the ECO Cycle system measures 8.5 metres in diameter and has a depth of 11.6 metres and can store up to 204 bicycles.
In order to use the system, cyclists pay a monthly subscription and are issued a personal card and an ID tag that is placed on the bicycle and identifies the bike with the registered user.
Check out the images below to get a closer look at how the ECO Cycle underground bicycle parking system in Japan works:
The bike is then whisked to the underground level. A carrier lift that holds the bicycle rotates downwards and stores the bicycles. This process takes about eight seconds.
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