Vertical bike parking protects from theft, worry
Bikes are the most efficient thing on two wheels (sorry, Aptera), but they're not ideal for everyone's city commute. A new vertical parking/shower stall concept from Yinnon Lehrer over at Yanko Design could make biking an easier choice for a lot of people. The main reasons: you bike is protected from theft and, in one of the concept kiosks, you can freshen up if you've had a sweaty ride.
Lehrer's long-term parking concept is incredibly flexible – the parking rods could be installed at train stations, by shopping centers or on the sides of buildings – and have a small footprint compared to traditional bike racks. In suburban areas with space to dedicate to bike parking (see here) a vertical structure wouldn't be needed, but we can see how this makes sense in busy cities. Our main suggestion to improve the design would be to include some sort of canopy at the top of the structure to protect the bikes from rain or snow. If you're going to leave your ride somewhere for a while, it'd be nice to know it'll be dry when you get back. Check out the sketches in the gallery below.
[Source: Yinnon Lehrer / Yanko Design]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt 11:59AM (10/06/2009)
I don't think this is the same exact design, but these are already in use at the University of Alabama. As for efficiency, in practice it's actually kinda low. They have to be spaced too far apart to make good use of the space, and the ones I'm referring to DO have a canopy over them. All in all you're talking about a $20k - $40k bike rack. It's a bike rack. You can fit more bikes in the same space with a traditional steel rack at a fraction of the cost. Better yet, you could spend that 20-40k and buy a few hundred bikes for public use... hmm...
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Sebastian 12:06PM (10/06/2009)
good points. didn't know about the UofA racks.
Matt 12:33PM (10/06/2009)
I'll see if I can get a picture of them this afternoon to send to you.
KK 12:49PM (10/06/2009)
This looks like the same idea as the Bike Tree, already installed at some locations:
http://www.biketree.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSD5MsQuVo&feature=related
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KK 1:15PM (10/06/2009)
By the way, if you want the ultimate in space utilization, you have to look to Japan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE4fvwTBtno&feature=related
Each of these devices can hold 180 bikes. This particular location has 36 of them.
wincros 3:57PM (10/06/2009)
Wow. Looks like it must cost a quarter of a million dollars to store each bike. Seems to me that theft insurance should cost less than the thing being protected.
KK 6:32PM (10/06/2009)
> Seems to me that theft insurance should
> cost less than the thing being protected.
The main goal of these devices is to make it easy for cyclists to park their bikes, and to do so using the minimum space needed. Especially the Japanese one - the major problem in Japan is not bike theft, but illegally parked bikes (i.e. shortage of bike parking space). The device shown here is buried underground, and stores 180 bikes within a 23-ft diameter cylindrical space.
Transit-Forum.com 12:50PM (10/06/2009)
Now that is cool. The first thing I thought was why couldn't I think of an idea like that.
posted by: www.transit-forum.com
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Laurens 1:44PM (10/06/2009)
A crappy old bike to cycle to "danger zones" (café's, bars, cinema etc.), a better one which is parked safely at work. Good lock to attach bike to fixed objects.
No problem, never had a bike stolen.
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Kowell 1:55PM (10/06/2009)
According to the pictures, you use a regular U shaped lock like you would anyway and then pull the bike up the pole.
What's stopping someone else from lowering the bike in your place?
I understand the space saving aspect but since the only security appears to be the same old U shaped lock most people already use, how is this safer than normally locking your bike around a pole?
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GoodCheer 2:12PM (10/06/2009)
Well, it's safer from vandalism because it's just that much more out of the way.
I see bikes every day that have had their rear wheels "stomped" by some drunk shortpecker. I suspect they get stomped because they are right there, and said shortpecker wouldn't bother with multiple steps like lowering the bike first.
wincros 2:00PM (10/06/2009)
I was impressed by Barcelona's solution. There is a bicycle service that provides city bikes and parking places everywhere. The bikes are uniform and kind of dorky looking with official colors. So there is little incentive to steal them. People either pay a small fee to use one for a while or a small monthly fee to use them all the time.
Of course the other solution is a folding bike you take with you, but that also takes cooperation from commuter trains, buses, restaurants and stores.
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lenna 11:11AM (10/15/2009)
I were in Barcelona for holidays, and I discovered a great idea for safety bike parking, it´s called biceberg. It´s an automated parking system for bikes, you can keep your bike and all the other things that you need: backpack,gloves…, it´s very easy to use and it´s free!!!I can´t believe that biceberg don´t be install in all cities.If you want learn more:
http://www.biceberg.es
http://www.bigloo.es
Robert 10:54PM (10/07/2009)
KK, your comment on the BikeTree is pertinent. The BikeTree purports to free cycists from having to carry locks, but until the entire world has BikeTrees, you'll need the lock anyway. I'm with Matt. There are good bike rack designs around. For a review of a number of designs, look at:
http://practicalcyclist.blogspot.com/2008/08/byrne-bike-racks-and-design.html
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