Nagoya City workers were busy this Friday afternoon removing bicycles from subway station bicycle spots enforcing the city’s policy of limiting bicycle parking near stations to only fee paying commuters. In the busy Motoyama Station area alone workers impounded over 30 commuters’ bicycles, including an electric powered “mama-chari” or bicycle designed for use by mothers with infants and toddlers.
Bicycle impoundment along with the ongoing fees to park a bicycle on government land near subway stations have become a huge revenue generator for the city. According to a report by Nagoya TV last year, the city charged 12,900,000 yen, (approximately 1,000,000 USD) to residents to get back their impounded bicycles in the year of April, 2020 to March, 2021. This is in addition to the city’s revenue it earns from its “Yuuryouka” policy, or user fee, which forces users to pay 100 yen each time to park their bicycles near subway stations.
The Yuuryouka policy was intended to solve the long time trouble of commuters’ bicycles blocking access to subway stations. The city continues to impound bicycles at stations despite this policy.
See the article “How to Get Your Bicycle or Scooter Back from Impoundment“
