Underground bicycle parking from Tokyo

This is less about premium (though it could be considered anti-premium) and more about movement.



(video here, not sure if it will show up on e-mail)

This new underground bicycle parking system was deployed in a new department store that just opened in Tokyo. The parking lot holds 9400 bicycles, and 6480 of them are stored in the 36 robotic storage system that's shown in the video. The system takes 23 seconds to store and retrieve a bicycle and cost 70 million dollars (how much would a parking lot for 9400 cars cost?).

The parking lot costs $1 for one time use and $18 for unlimited monthly us

Bicycle parking has been a big issue in Japan for ages with sidewalks around train stations covered with bicycles. Bicycle parking lots are springing up around train stations and high activity areas in recent years. Most condos and apartment complexes also have dedicated parking areas for bicycles, and some have a double decker parking system (photographed near my house).


The new bicycle parking lots aren't a sign of increasing bicycles in Japan (they've been around for ever) but an increased sense of doing the "right thing." Similar trend data points includes the increase of drunk driving fines in Japan (though that was also inspired by some heavily media-broadcasted horrific accidents). This, of course, is my hypothesis.