Felipe Lang is the administrator of Tata Parking, located in the Don Bosco neighborhood of San Jose. At first glance one might think that the parking lot is just one of many in the heap that are found in the capital city.
However, observing more closely, one can read a sign that says “Free parking for bikes.”
Lang claims that there were two reasons that inspired him to offer a service not common in the center of the city.
The first was that in December on the way to work he got stuck in a dam, and another driver made a reckless maneuver and ended up insulting him. Felipe decided that he could not continue wasting two hours daily in the dams. It was then that he chose to travel to work by bike every day.
The second reason was to give back to society. His business promotes the use of cars and with that, the negative environmental impacts that cars have. This is why he wanted to change and do a favor to the environment – offering free parking for bicycles, which also promotes an alternative mode of transportation to the capital.
“The initiative was born by the simple fact of incentivising the use of bicycles in the city,” affirms Felipe. “To generate a small change that brings a great impacts to the society,” he adds.
Lang does not spare in accepting the reality of parking lots: “they are ugly spaces, dead spaces. One doesn’t expect anything, only goes to leave their car, but a parking lot is a space that can be used for many things.”
Tata Parking, even though it is a space for bicycles, does many other things. They gift plants to their users, has a chalkboard so that entrepreneurs can announce their business, and has already transformed a space into a garden of sunflowers where pedestrians stop to take pictures.
Source: ameliarueda.com