A Czech bicycle importer has installed an automated cycle parking tower at a railway station in the city of Hradec Kralove. The tower can hold up to 117 bicycles on seven tiers.
Velo, which imports cycles from Wheeler bicycles of Taiwan, has co-funded the building of a glass walled automated cycle parking tower at the Hradec Kralove rail station. Users pay for their parking via a ticket machine, which enables access and retrieval of the bicycle.
In Tokyo, for example an automated facility consisting of two underground silos holding 144 cycles each has been in operation since 2008. Robotised parking has been used in some European countries such as Switzerland. Carousel cycle systems have also been tried in the Netherlands. But one of the main drawbacks to these systems is the length of stacking and retrieval times of around 45 seconds, said Daniel Mourek, the European Cyclists’ Federation vice president. This has tended to put off users. In addition the automated system is costlier than more high-density basic cycle parking.
source : eltis
