The underground cycle rack that holds 200 bikes below the streets of Tokyo

It is one of the busiest cities in the planet and so space is at a premium.

So it is with little surprise that the Japanese have come up with a way of storing bicycles that takes up very little street space.
This genius storage solution buried 11 metres beneath Tokyo stores up to 200 bicycles and each one takes just eight seconds to store.

The idea came about because it had become so out of hand that finding a place to park one's two wheeler could be a series headache for commuters in the morning rush.

To remedy this problem, construction company Giken have come up with a solution which stores hundreds of bicycles underground using a robot system called Eco Cycle.

Bicycles are stacked on top of each other and costs just 28p to use.
London-born filmmaker Danny Choo, who lives in Tokyo with his wife, said: 'While we do have a load of cars and public transport all over the place - the bicycle is still very much a common way to get around in Japan.

'So much so that finding a place to park is a really big problem - it's even more of a problem when people start to park illegally.
'So this is a really good solution for millions of people and is really helping to keep the streets clean.'

Each well can hold 200 bicycles as long as the length of the bicycle is more than 1400mm and less than 1900mm long and weighs less than 30Kg.

The whole process takes about 16 seconds to store and retrieve each bike.

Users place their bike into the designated zone and mechanical arms clamp it into place. The owner's then swipe their membership card to approve the storage.

It is then taken underground and stored in an individual space and its location is stored in the system ready to be collected.

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