Unmaned public bicycle rental service, installed in Tokyo·Nagoya
Unmaned control technology·short installation period·low cost,
knocking on world market


Unmaned public bicycle rental system that was developed by Korea small-medium company was exported to Japan.
Euro ITS co.,ltd(CEO Hwang ho soon) announced last month 5th that they exported 465 units bicycle hangers and unmaned public bicycle rental system for 300 bicycles named ‘Meichari (名チャリ)’ to 30 station in Nagoya city.
86 millions bicycles are running in Japan. In Osaka, 1 bicycle for 1.2 person, in Tokyo 1 for 1.3 person. There are many earthquake and the road is narrow but more bicycle users. Subway system lead the traffic system in Japan. Bus is not comfortable and taxi fare is very high(basic fee is 750 Yen, 9 USD). Under this situation, bicycle is used for short range commute and many bicycle lots are located nearby subway station. Mr. Hwang ho soon said “To solve bicycle parking problem in Japan, Ministry of Environment in Japan introduced unmaned public bicycle rental system”. The fund for this project was composed by Ministry of Environment in Japan, Nagoya city and Nippon Computer Dynamics(NCD). NCD plan to establish 100,000 bicycle rental system until 2010 under brand of ‘Ecostation21’. Euro ITS was designated as the first provider of unmaned public bicycle rental system by Ministry of Environment in Japan last August and Euro ITS installed it Maruno-uchi area in Tokyo. The system have a function of individual parking.

Specified unmaned control technology, minimizing cost
Euro ITS was a company of developing unmaned control car parking system. But as the market was shrunk, they switched business major into bicycle parking system and developed unmaned public bicycle rental system on June 2007. Starting from installation on apartment house in Seong dong gu, Euro ITS did on 6 self-governed wards, Gong-ju city, Bu-yeo city, Woong jin in Incheon and exported their products. Euro ITS carried out the project on the development of unmaned public bicycle rental system last year. Henceforth, Euro ITS plan to develop a standardized locking device for bicycle. The system installed in Nagoya city have a no-touch IC card technology named 'Felica'. Euro ITS developed similar protocol that is applied to tranfic card used in Korea.
Also connecting with ASP type line, combining bicycle, keyosk, total control center so that reduced the cost. Euro ITS developed the system controlled by wireless and cellular phone and the system can move each section by the controller. Euro ITS developed equipments, software and total control logic so they can low the cost and shorten the construction time. It took only 3 months for design, manufacturing, delivery and installation. Nagoya city opened the parking lot 5th last month. Euro ITS made a plan for export based on that achievement.
Mr. Hwang ho soon said “Some local government try to introduce public bicycle rental system. Mainly, the users of bicycle are increased in big city. The time for worrying about bicycle parking problem is coming soon" and added “All system need plan for maintenance and it's better to set up that plan before introducing. If there is no plan, the system will be ruined and turned to be a trash”.  He said “The installation and maintenance of public bicycle rental system need big budget, so public officer shall consider that the system is mainly used for 5km(30 minutes) distance”. Mr.Hwang said that more important thing is social agreement among walker, bicycle rider, car driver, government officer to protect bicycle riders. In brief, we need to change our awareness on bicycle with the construction of bicycle infrastructure.

Reporter _ E.S.Kang(eskang@liftasia.com)