Japanese Multi-Level Bicycle Parking

The Multi-level bicycle park at Tokyo's Kasai Station might sound like a crazy overblown way to tidy up the streets, but the woeful lack of available parking spaces at most Japanese train stations is a real problem. In some places legal parks are impossible to find and private security guards are known for performing periodic sweeps where bicycles are tossed in the back of a truck and impounded. At 100 Yen (about $1) per day or 1,800 Yen (about $18) for a month, a multi-level parking spot is a lot cheaper than the impound fee. Here's hoping that they proliferate. [Japan Probe]