At the Parking Network website we publish about parking all day, every day. But mostly we talk about car parking. Enough of that for once, let’s talk bicycle parking.
As you might know Amsterdam, capitol of the Netherlands, is voted the most bike-friendly city of the world 2012, for the second time in a row. In most cities the car is the common transportation device, but not in Amsterdam: if you are a resident, you’d better have a bike because driving a car in the city centre isn’t something you want to do. On a bike you probably reach your destination faster and stress free. About 40% of all commutes in Amsterdam are made by bike.
Bike parking has the same rules as car parking: Where there are a lot of bicycles, there must be a lot of parking spaces. Amsterdam has always had lots of bicycle parking lots, but now they are investing even more in these facilities, especially in the city centre. The last couple of years Amsterdam invested in expanding the number of bicycle parking facilities and since 2007 the number of spaces has increased with 30%. Even though the city already invested in adding more parking facilities, it’s still not enough. There are still too less parking spaces for all the bicycles.
Amsterdam Centre has decided to add an extra investment in bicycle parking facilities and plans to develop a network of underground and off-street parking facilities. These should have a capacity of hundreds of extra parking spaces.
Unused and abandoned bicycles are also a problem in downtown Amsterdam: These bicycles occupy parking spots which leaves people who want to park their bike with no other option then to park them on the curb side. Last year the city removed 12.000 abandoned and/or broken bicycles, 60% of these were abandoned in the city centre.
