Some Really Good Bike Parking

Here are a few photos of some bike parking that I used whilst staying overnight in Utrecht recently. This one is the station parking and although it’s free for the first 24 hours you do need an OV card (kind of a NL equivalent of an Oyster card) to use it.

It’s quite busy so there is a wide two way cycle path into it. There was a sign on the aproach to indicate how many spaces were available at this parking and several others in the city centre (like we have for cars in some UK cities) so I knew before I got there that I would be able to park my bike.

I went to the top floor (there are two) thinking that if the locals struggle with hills I might find a space more easily. The parking is the standard two tier racks and there was somebody just leaving as I arrived so there was a space for me to put my bike in. There are signs in the corridor indicating how many free spaces on the top and bottom racks in each bay.

There are lots of bays, I parked in bay 85 and took this picture so that I could stand a fighting chance of finding my bike in the morning. You can exit the bike parking directly into the plaza outside the front of the Central Station. My bike was still there the next morning, nice and dry despite some heavy rain overnight.
Apparently the bike parking has 12,500 spaces, for comparison apparently the Trafford Centre in Manchester has 11,500 car parking spaces (but probably takes up quite a bit more space).