As practically everyone knows, streets in the Netherlands, and not just in Amsterdam, are jammed with bicycles headed in all directions. What’s not as well-known is that there’s a parking crisis for bicycles, and that bigger bikes are making the problem bigger, too.
Perhaps that’s why so many people are riding: No place to park!
Seriously, though: while there are bicycle racks, bicycle lots and even bicycle parking garages to be found, there’s a shortage of space that has led to calls for government aid to create another 100,000 bike parking spots in the bigger cities, and some €75 million has already been allocated toward the project.
The shortage has developed as a result of three factors: growing reaction against driving short distances, especially when heavy traffic makes it the slow way; the growing use of electric bikes that allow more people to commute longer distances that way, and the growth in bike size.
Oversized bikes now account for more than 16% of the total. Generally, the oversized category does not mean wider, longer two-wheelers, but also accounts for the increase in bicycles pulling children or cargo in trailers and cargo bikes with a ‘trunk’ in front.
