Ohh to live in Japan!

cheerspal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/nov/05/bicycles-japan-bike-tree

Marvinthefish

Illegal parking of bicycles in Japanese cities is a major problem

LOL

But anyway, that looks insane! I want a go!

CheGuedara

That is unbelievable!!! Class!

paddyb

In Japan, all bikes are registered. In the video you see they are behind a white line. If they go over that line, they get a ticket!

JacksonHeightsOwn

am the only one that got distracted by the Kelly Brooke sky ride video to the right? i would love to be her saddle thats for sure

peterako

chrisbonnie wrote: »

am the only one that got distracted by the Kelly Brooke sky ride video to the right? i would love to be her saddle thats for sure

No. You're not the only one.

She was the first thing I noticed.

And it took a good few seconds to remember why the page had opened

Great bike storage solution for blorg maybe??? (Or was that Lumen?)

flickerx

Do people think its really that great? I know its Japan and obviously everything works great there all the time, but what happens if there's a minor glitch with the lift doors, the robot arm, the sensors, the access terminal, anything? Your bike is in a room with a robot that you wont be able to access until an engineer comes to fix the fault? Hmm. I think I'd rather just lock it somewhere on the street. And robots doing things unsettles me somewhat, havent you people learned the lessons that sci-fi has taught us in the past forty or so years? HAL-9000, the T-1000, Bill Gates - they're all out to destroy us.

the_syco

flickerx wrote: »

And robots doing things unsettles me somewhat, havent you people learned the lessons that sci-fi has taught us in the past forty or so years? HAL-9000, the T-1000, Bill Gates - they're all out to destroy us.

Go watch Ghost In The Shell. Robots are our frieeeeeeeeeeeeends

But yeah, can see something going wrong, and coming back to a queue of a hundred japs waiting for their bikes

peterako

flickerx wrote: »

Do people think its really that great? I know its Japan and obviously everything works great there all the time, but what happens if there's a minor glitch with the lift doors, the robot arm, the sensors, the access terminal, anything? Your bike is in a room with a robot that you wont be able to access until an engineer comes to fix the fault? Hmm. I think I'd rather just lock it somewhere on the street. And robots doing things unsettles me somewhat, havent you people learned the lessons that sci-fi has taught us in the past forty or so years? HAL-9000, the T-1000, Bill Gates - they're all out to destroy us.

BUT....it's Japan!

Things WORK there

Jawgap

As usual the Japanese over-engineer their solutions.

The Euro one is a bit more elegant!!



Although the Japanese one could be made much more interesting if you got back a randomly selected bike instead of your own one!!

pierrot

I do, and we get to cycle on the footpaths here :P

flickerx

Jawgap wrote: »

Although the Japanese one could be made much more interesting if you got back a randomly selected bike instead of your own one!!

Interesting doesnt always equate with good...! You could get back some piece of junk Dunnes Stores-style MTB instead of your own pride and joy, and then the system would tell you sorry - you got your bike back, off you go!

cheerspal

If it breaks there is probably a 15 strong team of engineers waiting in the background to fix it within 5 mins.

flickerx

cheerspal wrote: »

If it breaks there is probably a 15 strong team of engineers waiting in the background to fix it within 5 mins.

All cyborgs. Dont say I didnt warn you.

nitrogen

peterako wrote: »

BUT....it's Japan!

Things WORK there

But it's probably one of the worst countries for a cyclist.

OK, it depends on which perspective you look at it from: the commuter or roadie. Great for short 2/3 km commutes with no worries of a utility bike getting robbed, parking facilities at train stations and town centres and if you're old you can cycle on the footpath and not worry about traffic.

It's not ideal for people who use the road for pleasure or longer journeys. Narrow roads, get bullied by drivers to use footpaths even though the law is clear that a bike is a vehicle. Not only do you have to assume motorists and pedestrians are idiots, you have to assume anyone on a bike is mentally handicapped - cycling the wrong way, no knowledge of hand signals or rules of the road, very careless. The same goes for motorists, never pass out a cyclist, they leave no room. In the Kanto region (East of Japan), it's very hard to find quiet roads without a traffic light every 200m. The country side, forget it.

flickerx

I was in Tokyo for a week a few years ago. I wouldnt consider it a nice place to cycle either. People cycling on the footpath was extremely annoying.

CheGuedara

nitrogen wrote: »

It's not ideal for people who use the road for pleasure or longer journeys. Narrow roads, get bullied by drivers to use footpaths even though the law is clear that a bike is a vehicle. Not only do you have to assume motorists and pedestrians are idiots, you have to assume anyone on a bike is mentally handicapped - cycling the wrong way, no knowledge of hand signals or rules of the road, very careless. The same goes for motorists, never pass out a cyclist, they leave no room.

So it's actually quite similar exactly the same as here then