vertical bicycle parking lots, equipped with airlocks, are arriving in France

The use of bicycles in the city is exploding. But there is still a serious shortage of parking spaces. We may have found a solution to this: a vertical parking lot where bikes can be stacked.

Vertical bicycle parking lots are robotic towers, six to nine meters high, which catch bicycles through an airlock and store them automatically, one above the other. It’s quite efficient since we can park up to 60 bikes in a car space, ten times more than if we stored them horizontally.

For cyclists, the lack of space in the city remains a major problem. So that they can park, parts of the sidewalk are sacrificed to the detriment of pedestrians, who complain, or to the detriment of parking for cars, which take longer to find a space. With this vertical parking, we arrive at a compromise by installing a maximum of bicycles in a minimum of space. It is an invention of V-Locker, a Swiss start-up, which has already been exported to Germany and in particular to Berlin.

Park bicycles near stations safely

Everything works with a mobile application, which allows you to unlock the door and control the system so that it brings back your machine. Each bike is stored in a private location that can also accommodate a helmet and backpack. Everything is closed. We can’t enter. There is therefore little chance of it being stolen.

These are modular towers: several of them can be glued together. Most will be installed in station car parks or in the city center, because the objective is to encourage people to come by bike and then continue by transport. Travelers will thus be assured of finding their little queen in one piece, because when you have paid 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 euros for your bike, it is difficult to leave it hanging on a pole all day in a station. We prefer it to be in a secure box.

Subsidized rates?

These parking towers are just arriving in France. So we don’t have the prices yet. But in Switzerland, for users, it amounts to 50 cents per hour, or 15 euros per month. Which still represents a budget. But in Germany, where the system is subsidized, we go down to 5 euros per month, which is much more reasonable. However, in France, this type of equipment is subsidized with the Alvéole system. These towers could therefore also benefit from it.