07-06-2012

According to the municipality there are 295,000 bicycles in public spaces intended to officially hold 200,000 bicycles. Although the number of places in the inner city has been increased from 34,000 in 2007 to more than 43,000, there is still a shortage, frequently leading to insufficient parking space on the streets. Subterranean parking would be a good alternative, but is costly. The municipality is as a result looking at novel, cheap alternatives, one of which is rooftop parking. This would make use of an automated system whose costs are estimated to be at most 4,000 euro per rooftop space. For the system’s required clean power, solar cells could be installed on the roof. The current study is focussing on optimisation of the Velominck system, the finances, and its integration into the location.
Part of the study will look at ways to stimulate usage of bicyle parks, which are sometimes left vacant because people still park in the street. Visibility is an important issue and Amsterdam considers improving this through the use of glass lift shafts along the façade, thereby allowing a view of the bikes going up and down.