Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

What happened to the idea of pigeon-hole parking?

Dear Matthew Alice:

Sponsored
Sponsored

Whatever happened to the idea of "pigeon-hole" parking? Sometime around 1954 there was a hotel in downtown Spokane that had a large framework built up against the side wall on a lot too narrow for conventional parking. As I recall, a device like a forklift or a service station hoist carried my 1950 Mercury up and put it on a shelf. With the computer-controlled cargo/warehouse handling equipment available today, such a facility could even be operated with few or no attendants. Why not have a number of space-efficient vehicle handlers hidden away in otherwise unusable nooks and crannies?

-- L.D., San Diego

While L.D. fritters away his time suggesting new ideas to Matthew Alice, Gerhard Haag is hustling his Robotic Parking system to any overcrowded city that will listen and dreaming of his first billion. He's automated and computerized the staff-intensive Pigeon Hole Parking or Bowser Parking Systems from the '50s. A few of the old models are still in operation, but most of them disappeared fairly quickly. According to the International Parking Institute (it's a fact: somewhere there's an institute for every activity you can think of), anyway, the IPI sez most of the old pigeon-hole systems died because the hydraulic lifts and limited entrances were too slow to handle surges of traffic; mechanical problems (nearly constant) would trap cars inside the garage for three, four days at a time; and any pigeon-hole garage that handled lots of pigeons would need new hydraulics in seven or eight years. Good idea, crummy execution.

Cramped Europeans have been the guinea pigs for new robotic garages, and they seem pleased. In the U.S., there's a demo structure in Ohio and a commercial installation nearly completed in (no surprise) Hoboken, New Jersey. Aunt Alice Alice lives in Hoboken. Five years ago she found a parking space in front of her house and she hasn't driven since. Seems she can't think of any trip important enough to be worth the search for a new spot when she gets back. Her quality of life will zoom if she gets a slot in their robotic garage. The way it works, you drive your car into a bay like a self-service car wash with a pallet in the floor. You lock up, take a receipt out of a machine, an elevator lifts car and pallet up to an empty parking slot, and the package rolls on rails into the space. To retrieve your wheels, enter your ticket number into a machine, stick in your credit card (or your monthly rental ID card), and the elevator returns your car to ground level. And the whole process is faster than the average valet. Gerhard claims he can assemble the modular systems up to 20 stories tall, as wide as you want, with as many bays as you can afford, and it doubles the parking capacity of a similar-sized structure. If things go okay in Hoboken, maybe Aunt Alice Alice will drive out for a visit. Then she'll go shopping in La Jolla and be forced to live out her golden years parked in front of Starbucks, afraid to move her car again. You can get all the robodetails at robopark.com.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dia de los Muertos Celebration, Love Thy Neighbor(Hood): Food & Art Exploration

Events November 2-November 6, 2024

Dear Matthew Alice:

Sponsored
Sponsored

Whatever happened to the idea of "pigeon-hole" parking? Sometime around 1954 there was a hotel in downtown Spokane that had a large framework built up against the side wall on a lot too narrow for conventional parking. As I recall, a device like a forklift or a service station hoist carried my 1950 Mercury up and put it on a shelf. With the computer-controlled cargo/warehouse handling equipment available today, such a facility could even be operated with few or no attendants. Why not have a number of space-efficient vehicle handlers hidden away in otherwise unusable nooks and crannies?

-- L.D., San Diego

While L.D. fritters away his time suggesting new ideas to Matthew Alice, Gerhard Haag is hustling his Robotic Parking system to any overcrowded city that will listen and dreaming of his first billion. He's automated and computerized the staff-intensive Pigeon Hole Parking or Bowser Parking Systems from the '50s. A few of the old models are still in operation, but most of them disappeared fairly quickly. According to the International Parking Institute (it's a fact: somewhere there's an institute for every activity you can think of), anyway, the IPI sez most of the old pigeon-hole systems died because the hydraulic lifts and limited entrances were too slow to handle surges of traffic; mechanical problems (nearly constant) would trap cars inside the garage for three, four days at a time; and any pigeon-hole garage that handled lots of pigeons would need new hydraulics in seven or eight years. Good idea, crummy execution.

Cramped Europeans have been the guinea pigs for new robotic garages, and they seem pleased. In the U.S., there's a demo structure in Ohio and a commercial installation nearly completed in (no surprise) Hoboken, New Jersey. Aunt Alice Alice lives in Hoboken. Five years ago she found a parking space in front of her house and she hasn't driven since. Seems she can't think of any trip important enough to be worth the search for a new spot when she gets back. Her quality of life will zoom if she gets a slot in their robotic garage. The way it works, you drive your car into a bay like a self-service car wash with a pallet in the floor. You lock up, take a receipt out of a machine, an elevator lifts car and pallet up to an empty parking slot, and the package rolls on rails into the space. To retrieve your wheels, enter your ticket number into a machine, stick in your credit card (or your monthly rental ID card), and the elevator returns your car to ground level. And the whole process is faster than the average valet. Gerhard claims he can assemble the modular systems up to 20 stories tall, as wide as you want, with as many bays as you can afford, and it doubles the parking capacity of a similar-sized structure. If things go okay in Hoboken, maybe Aunt Alice Alice will drive out for a visit. Then she'll go shopping in La Jolla and be forced to live out her golden years parked in front of Starbucks, afraid to move her car again. You can get all the robodetails at robopark.com.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Todd Gloria gets cash from McDonald's franchise owners

Phil's BBQ owner for Larry Turner
Next Article

Extended family dynamics

Many of our neighbors live in the house they grew up in
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader