Pigeonhole System (CLICK TO SEE MOVIE). basically use an elevator on tracks to raise and transport the vehicle at the same time. You first drive a vehicle onto the elevator. An attendant then moves the elevator along a central track system and raises it to one of the parking levels. The attendant then drives the car from the elevator into the parking space. The parking structures for the Pigeonhole System are generally made of all concrete. It is of a unique design and cannot easily be reconfigured. Today this is considered too expensive as there is no salvage value to the building. A lot of space is lost in this type of system because of the concrete pigeonhole's and the space required for the elevator. Also because the elevator and transporter are the same unit the system must completely finish one movement before it can begin another. Access time is slow.

Although now a mostly obsolete design, there are three Pigeonhole mechanical garage systems operating in New York City.They have been in service for almost 50 years. One of the later systems installed in New York was fully automated. It used the tether wheel grip system.

The Wheel Grip System (CLICK TO SEE MOVIE) lifts a vehicle by grabbing its wheels from below then moves the vehicle from the elevator to the parking space. This system is seldom deployed because the wheel grip part of the system may sometimes damage the underside of low profile vehicles.

A lot of Pigeonhole systems were installed in the United States. There were two in Philadelphia, several in Boston, Detroit, Miami and Ohio. About 10 years ago a German company brought a newer, Finger Lift (CLICK TO SEE MOVIE) version of this system to St. Louis where it was installed but it exhibited the same problems as the old system in Manhattan. After about three years the system was removed and the building was torn down.