Bicycle is an easy-to-ride transportation. Recently it is getting a lot of attention as a no emission vehicle. Despite the fact, many things are still left unsolved in Japan. Bicycle roads are not popular, yet. Land values are too high to develop appropriate capacity bicycle parking. That is why nuisance parking is found anywhere at footpath in urban area. Those parked bicycles would spoil surrounding sight and bother ambulance access and fire-fighting operations. It is considered to be a social problem.
Eco-cycle is an anti-seismic mechanical underground parking lot. Giken aggregated own long term experience of press-in technologies and developed the Eco-cycle with the design concept of “Culture Aboveground, Function Underground”. If bicycle parking is available near final destination, people use the facility more often. It eventually eliminates nuisance parking at footpath. Such space at footpath can be utilised for cultural activities.
Land-saving & Compact Design
Bicycle parking lots must be located where people want to go. GIKEN’s unique technologies enable to build the Eco-cycle at very small land. Its compact design is also effective at which it is not easy to occupy large scale of land in urban area.
Bicycle rental is getting popular in recent urban development, because bicycle is considered as environmentally-friendly vehicle. Eco-cycle is an underground mechanical bicycle parking lot which requires a small space above ground just for the bicycle entrance booth. Eco-cycle does not disturb beautiful sight of the town, and the space above ground can be utilised as gardens or parks.
All operations to load and unload bicycles are controlled by computer. There are many sensors to secure the safety operations. All bicycles are stored in the underground space, so perfect security is available against theft.
Loading operation and unloading operation are very easy for anyone. IC tag fixed on individual bicycle and IC card issued to individual user makes smooth operation possible. Average waiting time for unloading is about 13 seconds.
The construction cost of Eco-cycle is very low, because of its efficient parking mechanism and the systemised construction method. The automatic operation system requires nobody for operation. That is why manpower cost can be reduced a lot. “Eco-cycle” has the meanings of “ecology” and “economy”.
A continuous wall formed by pressed-in piles is utilised as anti-seismic structure for the underground bicycle park. This construction design realises amazingly fast construction. The Eco-cycle is built by prefabricated materials with the least temporary work sequences.
