One thing is for sure, the Japanese never cease to surprise us. This is once again the case with something seemingly innocuous: a bicycle parking lot.
Located in Tokyo and built by Japanese engineering firm Giken Seisakusho, this parking lot equipped with an anti-seismic device (essential in Japan) is 8.5 meters wide but is deep enough (11.6m) to store 204 bicycles. This system, called ECO Cycle, provides urban cyclists with an efficient and secure parking solution. The icing on the cake is that this system does not take up any surface space!
As you will see in the video below, this parking lot looks like it came straight out of a science fiction movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym7juWamiWY
To use it, you just need a subscription card and you need to attach an identifier to your bike. Then, it takes an average of 13 seconds to park or pick up your bike.
And if you want to know more, here is the official video (in Japanese) of Giken published in 2011:
And finally, here are some signed photos Danny Choo from Culture Japan:
Article updated on March 31, 2025 by Byothe
