So many bikes, so little space

The Dutch like riding their bikes to the train station. But railside parking space is running out.

Anybody who has visited the Netherlands won’t be surprised to learn the Dutch are up to their ears in bicycles. But those bikes have now began to encroach on public space so much, municipal governments are left with few other options than to remove some of them by force.

Train stations in major cities especially are burdened by the number of bikes parked there, the deluge of rusty steeds threatens to clog throughways for passengers and traffic.

Wim Bot, of the Dutch Cyclists’ Union, says the shortage of parking spaces has been a long time in the making. “In the last ten years, we have seen the percentage of train travelers arriving by bike at the station increase from 30 to 40 percent.
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