Bicycle storage becomes full

In some station parking facilities already one in five bikes have in front a crate or basket. Managers of the parking facilities get more and more problems with Bicycle storage.

Bikes that do not fit in standard racks or bad fit in standard racks are an increasing problem, according to research by CROW Fietsberaad commissioned by NS and ProRail. This not only involves the so called crate bikes. Rear panniers provide as many problems. And in addition there are bicycles that differ for their dimensions: for example, thicker tires, a wider steering or more weight and so on.

One on three bikes deviates from the standard sizes of the racks in the station parking facilities. There are also cargo bikes and recumbent bikes that take a lot of place, although in the station parking facilities where the survey covered not constitute too serious a problem.

For a cargo bike, you need a separate place in the parking. A bike with a child seat or crate also requires more storage space. If only because such a bike can ensure other places to be used badly or not. A bicycle with a child seat in the lower layer of a parking rack, for example, blocks the use of the extendible chute of the rack above it. For some users a reason to put their bike than somewhere else.

CROW Fietsberaad would like to make a number of pilot projects to offer alongside the current “compact places” even “plus places” and “double-plus places.
The Plus places offer more space per place but have a less favorable place in the parking, so not everyone will use them. For the double plus places people pay more, but they will get, in addition to more space, a good location in the parking.

How the Plus places look like remains to be sorted out. You can, according to CROW Fietsberaad, think of bicycle parking spaces as there are already drawn in some guarded parking facilities for motorbikes and scooters or new special oversized racks which are new on the market.