CATEGORISATION OF BICYCLE PARKING PROVISION
IN TOKYO, JAPAN
Written and posted by Diego Bello, Tokyo. Japan
The following report classifies several types of Chuu-rin-jiou (Japanese bicycle parking facilities) into the most representative that have been carefully observed in terms of:
- Design interventions made to the space and other significant features, such as signage
- Service description.
- Management and logistics supporting the several sites
The categories range from the simplest type of bicycle parking in Tokyo towards the most complex designs technologically speaking .
The sites presented here, represent the different types of bicycle parking facilities available in Tokyo regardless what is most commonly found. Some unique types have also been included considering their contribution to the bicycle parking design problem.
Some sites might combine two or more types of bicycle storage solutions, they commonly are tier racks (single or double deck), or electronically locked tier racks, simply bicycle parking designated areas, or less commonly found electro-mechanic cable cranes(types) .
The architectural layout might consist of underground spaces, a several stories buildings, self standing metallic building structures, terraces and outdoors facilities both covered and uncovered.This categorization intents to highlight their differences in order to easily identify individual elements on each facility.
The observations were made during eleven months by visiting several boroughs in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The observed sites are allocated at:
• Tokyo downtown, where most people work at big commercial office towers.
• The Shinjuku west gateway, where the city changes from commercial to residential and most people commute through everyday.
• West Tokyo boroughs where most people live. These areas were once little villages that have been merged in to a Big Tokyo metropolitan area.
• A final visit was made to Edogawa ku, Kasai Station were in March 2008 it was inaugurated the latest generation on automatized bicycle parking facility in Japan.
During the observation, on each visit, bicycle-parking usage has been evaluated on first hand approach as a user of the facilities
5 Bicycles of different geometry were used during this research in order to highlight issues related to adaptability and in general advantages and disadvantages of the facilities. It is important to understand that most of the Japanese cycling infrastructure such as racks and electronically controlled locking systems are designed considering the features and dimensions
of a mamachari, which is a housewife shopper bicycles’ known as "the standard of Japanese bicycle".
Background
The problem of illegal bicycle parking in Tokyo is geographically related to the network of rail stations of the Tokyo metro and Japan Railways, due to the fact that commuters use multi modal transport (bicycle and train) and principally overloading public space surrounding the stations with illegally parked bicycles.
JR (Japan Railways) campaign regarding illegal parking in Tokyo.
Every borough in Tokyo has a different approach to the bicycle transport agenda. Some take a very authoritarian approach penalizing illegal parking, imposing fines and towing illegally parked bicycles. Others boroughs assume the overpopulation of bicycles as a reality and move towards corrective measures such as informing the public about the local provision of bicycle parking areas in the first place, and or hiring staff to re-organize the bicycle left illegally on the streets in order to decrease hazards to pedestrians and other road users.
The other strategy is campaigning about then adequate use of the public space; Japan Railways has an ongoing campaign called “bicycle cleared stations” that promotes legal parking in order to prevent accidents to commuters, these campaigns warn cyclist-commuters about bicycle towing seasons.
Business Building at Kabuki Cho, Shinjuku, this is an illegal parking, note the traffic cones and the organized way in which the bicycles are organized.
These sites also fit into patterns according to the geographical position, in which they are allocated, for instance the types of bicycle parking facilities found in central areas tend to be more developed in terms of technology and logistics with electronic locks and CCTV, but at the same time these bike parking is scarce and public nor open to everyone they serve particular groups peoples (e.g. employees, customers, inhabitants only).
Another factors that might influence the design (the installation of racks, roofs, and electronic controlled locks) of a facility have to do with who owns the land in which a Bicycle parking is built and the expected lifespan of it (5, 10 years or more). Permanent facilities are often part of the public buildings and public infrastructure, such as underground parking areas in Tokyo at the railways stations. Semi-permanent Bicycle parking is found at department stores and temporary can be found at convenient stores and small businesses.
Bicycle parking outside a sport centre at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic village in Sendagaya Shibuya ku.
Interviewing to bicycle parking guards at Mitaka borough (Residential areas in West Tokyo) It was found that – due to tax reductions on land possession, several bicycle parking facilities are built in Tokyo, if the land is close to a train station, or a major cultural or commercial centre, a privately owned land could qualify to be a bicycle parking area in order to get a partial tax exemption for serving the community, the cut rate increases according to the number of bicycles that can be stored an the proximity o a rail station. If the landowner has no plans of building or is insolvent to do so, he has the option of leasing the land until his situation changes.
The companies that usually lease the land are real state companies that habitually negotiate not only the length of the lease but the commissions on rents, sales and the first buyer options, in case the owner would decide to sell the land. Often the real state company would decide whether the land is suitable for car or bicycle parking on private or public basis depending on demand of let us say shopping centre or a banks, train stations and centres where bicycle parking is more likely to be built due to the high rotation of users.
In central Tokyo, at neighbourhoods such as Aoyama, Azabu, Roppongi or Yotsuya a car parking fee could easily reach the price of 80,000 yens a month (approx 400 GBP) which represents a fee of 2650 yens a day. On the same space of a car 10 to 15 mamachari bikes (Japanese bicycles) can be allocated but the average daily fee in Tokyo for a bicycle parking space is only 100 yen (50 pence), registering a bicycle for an annual contract at a parking facility cost between 5000 to 10,000 yen (25 to 50 GBP), That puts bicycle parking out of competition as a business. In central Tokyo, privately owned bicycle parking is scarce, the spaces offered for bicycles to be parked are often a sections of walk paths with no surveillance nor furniture to lock to. The council administrations at harbour area in central Tokyo turn a blind eye on fly parking issue and are known to be less strict on the bicycle towing.
Pedestrian’s path in Azabu Juban (central Tokyo) plagued of illegal parked bicycles
Street guarders pass near by the illegal parked bicycles, concerned only about the position and direction in which bicycles are laid out and if the can be hazardous to pedestrians
Street guarders concentrate on issuing warning tickets to other illegally parked vehicles, such as the scooter behind them
Near stations on west Tokyo (Shinjuku west wise and west residential areas), the council administrations are very strict on the fly parking issue called “nuisance on the public area due to illegal bicycle parking”. The boroughs hire “silver servers”, retirees who run little teams of bicycle control on the public space on each neighbourhood.
The silver team mainly operates around the local department stores on each station, they mantain the temples, hospitals, the Shotengais (shopping area) free from illegally parked bicycles where the highest percentage of bicycle users congregates. They issue warning tickets to the disobedient cyclists and periodically run raids and tow their bicycles and take them to compounds that they also administrate. The “silver teams” charge fines at the compounds in order to release a removed bike.
Silver teams run public bicycle parking buildings throughout most of the city, these are not free but tend to be the cheapest on each area. They also sell the daily parking tickets and the monthly or the annual subscriptions to use the facilities. For bike parking subscribers they issue a sticker that has the registration number with the details of the length of the subscription.
In central Tokyo. this teams are mostly focused into chasing illegally parked scooters and motorbikes rather than bicycles because fines are bigger for removed scooters and the provision of bicycle parking is limited. They work along with the local businesses who help then by providing a bicycle space for customers at the entrance or by asking the silver teams to remove abandoned or illegally parked bicycles.
Notice the green sticker on these bicycles, the sticker represents the subscription to this particular site at Takadanobaba (North west Tokyo) and the expiring date of it.
Maps like this can be found around any train and station in Tokyo. Maps usually show red marked where is illegal to park a bicycle (normally within 150 meters radius around the station), maps also show where the nearest paid bicycle parking facility is and the contact numbers of the local bicycle storage, if left illegal parked bicycle are not found when owner return.
During this research bicycles used during the observations has been removed three opportunities for illegal parking, firstly from a supermarket in Kodaira (western Tokyo) on a second occasion from Tanashi station (borough of west Tokyo) and from Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku. In the same order 1000 yens(5 GBP), 2000yens(10GBP) and 3000 yens (15GBP) were paid to release the bikes from the compounds Please refer to a previous posting about this issue. in that sense, the closer one gets to central Tokyo the price of fines increase.
This research will present the different types (private and public) of bicycle parking facilities found at the different areas of Tokyo, The facilities will be analysed on a format that Bikeoff.org has previously designed in order to compare bicycle parking facilities from around the world, the format is called "Categorisation of bicycle parking provision" and has been previously tested in Barcelona Netherlands and UK.
May 2008 Tokyo, Japan
Bikeoff tokyo 