World's largest bicycle parking facility at Utrecht Central Station in the Netherlands

Photo from Bicycle Dutch.

Nigel, our correspondent from New Zealand, calls our attention to an article in Dezeen, "World's biggest bicycle park built below Utecht train station," about the completion of phase three of the bicycle parking facility at the main train station in Utrecht, Netherlands.

It provides space for 12,656 bikes, including 1,000 rental bikes and a bike repair shop.

This video shows more of the facility. How there are separate facilities for bikes with baskets or child seats; how there are two levels to the racks, and digital indicators of availability, extending to information about the upper versus the lower racks, just like in the most advanced car parking garages in the US. There isn't space for cargo bikes, but there is a nearby facility provided to accommodate cargo bikes.

Different levels connect to the train platforms, the train station, or the outdoor plaza.


The cost per space was about $2,550.  By contrast, in the US, it costs from $20,000 to $30,000 per space to build an above-ground car parking garage.  And it can be more for below-grade facilities.

Out and about last weekend, when the weather was pretty nice, I saw a lot of people bicycling (and using e-scooters and now the mopeds from Revel and Razor), and it seems like the use of the Capital Bikeshare system is higher too.

But this merely emphasizes my point that more resources need to be put into assisting people in transitioning to bicycling as a primary form of transportation.

-- "Eight "mutual assistance programs" that can build support for biking as transportation on the part of low income communities

Infrastructure (defined as lanes, cycle tracks, trails, etc., as opposed to facilities like maps, kiosks, bike shops, bike repair facilities, bicycle parking, air for tires, etc.), obviously, is key, but it's not enough to induce mass take up of biking for every day transportational use.

Adding infrastructure does increase biking amongst people who are particularly logical and driven by information.  But most people are not like that.

The Utrecht bicycle parking facility is a great example of how many elements are necessary to create a(n) (eco)system that supports "cycling as traffic"/"Cycling as a system"

Bicycle Traffic as a system, diagram, German National Bicycle Plan, 2002-2012