Lack of bike spots on trains, parking at stations hinders commuters
It is often difficult for commuters to successfully travel on trains with their bikes, according to a tour by De Telegraaf. The tour also found that even bike parking is becoming more challenging, as e-bikes rise in popularity.
Staff shortages mean the NS has reduced the number of trains per day, but also shortened the trains themselves. This has resulted in bigger crowds on trains, a hindrance for people who are trying to take their bikes with them, according to De Telegraaf. This is at odds with the government's vision of 100,000 extra people cycling to work by 2024.
“People with bicycles are the victims of the timetable being scaled down and trains being shortened," Rover director Freek Bos told De Telegraaf. "A shorter train offers fewer bicycle spaces anyway, but the balconies are often full of travelers even outside rush hour.”
The NS pointed out that full trains mean that people may not even be able to board. "Currently, the space in the train is limited, so we prefer to give priority to travelers instead of bicycles," a spokesperson told De Telegraaf.
Parking infrastructure at stations is also not keeping up with the times. This is why the Municipality of Leiden recently opened an additional bicycle shed.
“The standard bicycle is no longer so dominant in the total number of bicycles parked at Leiden CS. The rise of bicycles with a crate or a rack, the electric bicycle, the cargo bike and the fat bike has grown rapidly in a few years," a municipality spokesperson told De Telegraaf. “The built bicycle parking facilities have not changed at the same pace.”
