Automatically parks & retrieves bikes
Here's a video report from Japan about an automated bicycle parking garage in Tokyo that can hold 9,400 bicycles.
The facility is located at the Kasai metro station and aims to solve the problem of finding a location to park a lot of bicycles in a small area.
The video isn't translated, but it appears that after you swipe a card, your bicycle is automatically whisked away and stored. When you return, swipe your card again, and the robot retrieves your bike and delivers it in 22 seconds.
According to another video, each elevator can serve 180 bicycles.
The service costs about 95 cents for a single day, or $17.21 (1,800 yen) for a one-month pass, according to Japan Probe.
A $1 a day charge is certainly more costly than free parking on the street, but these bike tree users don't have to worry about felons with hacksaws and chain-cutters or addle-brained vandals out to kick in a few spokes.
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