World’s biggest bike garage opens in Utrecht with 12,500 parking spaces
The largest bicycle parking garage in the world is opening in Utrecht on Monday. With 12,656 parking spaces, including 480 spaces for larger or oddly shaped bicycles like cargo bikes and tandems, the parking facility on Utrecht's station square easily breaks the previous record, held by a bike parking garage in Tokyo with 9,400 parking spaces, Trouw reports.
"From abroad, they look with jealousy at everything we do here for cycling", project leader Lidwien van Kessel of ProRail said to the newspaper. "We are at the forefront here."
From Monday it will also be possible for cyclists to cycle through the bicycle garage under Stationsplein from Moreelsepark to Smakkelaarsveld and vice versa. The two directions of the main cycle path are separated in the garage by bicycle racks.
Cyclists with a disability and cyclists with a subscription will be allowed to park next to the main cycle path. Other cyclists can opt for a slow ramp to the first floor or to the basement and park their bikes there. Parking in the new bike garage is free for the first 24 hours, after that it costs 1.25 euros per 24 hours.
To help cyclists navigate the three-floor high bike garage, there are electronic signs to indicate free spaces and large numbers on the floor near the bike racks to help cyclists find their bikes.
According to Van Kessel, who helped develop the parking facility, the design specifically took into account that everyone should feel safe in the garage. "It is light everywhere and you can look through to different levels in different places. In addition, the parking facility is guarded and there are cameras. As a woman, I will also just pick up my bike here at ten in the evening."
The parking in the biggest bike garage in the world is expected to quickly fill up, Richard Maree of bicycle storage manager RataPlan said to Trouw. In total there are now 22 thousand bicycle parking spots around Utrecht Central Station. ProRail estimates that some 30 thousand are needed.
