It's sometimes difficult to keep up with progress on cycle parking. I've covered the parking at Groningen's main railway station twice before: First I wrote about the cycle park built in 2006 for 4150 bikes, and then I wrote about how this cycle park had been expanded to accommodate an additional thousand bikes, bringing the total to around 10000.
Today it's the turn of the "Fietsflat" in Groningen, an additional one thousand bicycle cycle parking facility which has been built at the station to cater for the ever growing demand.
So here it is. An additional two storey cycle park.This is not entirely a new structure. Actually, a slightly smaller, two storey cycle park was erected in this location as a temporary structure while the main cycle park was being built. However, by the time the big new cycle park was open and in use, the usage had grown such that the temporary park was also full. That's the reason why the Fietsflat came into being as a permanent structure. Unfortunately, this is often full too...
In the video you see the main "fietsbalkon", now expanded to (officially) 5150 spaces, and also the Fietsflat. You don't see the other smaller parking areas around the station, nor the indoor guarded cycle park which accommodate the rest of the bikes..
Explanatory captions on this video are only visible if you view on a computer and not on a mobile device.
7 comments:
The racks at Liverpool St Station, London, are very similar to this, but there is a swivelling loop on the left hand side that allows you to use a D-lock. The racks at Colchester station are also similar. However, they don't have the pins to grip the wheel and rely on a small ledge instead.
Hmm, very intersting. It seems it may take quite a while to find a free parking spot, and maybe a while to find where you parked your bike. Do they have the parking separated into marked sections for easier bike finding? Couldn't tell from the video. I could see your mom had just about enough pushing the bike up. So the second level parking may not be for everyone.
Of course, everytime lots of whatever has to be fit into a limited space some compromises have to be made.
It seems there are more bikes at that station then in whole Toronto.
This morning (7 o'clock) it was - 4 degrees C, slight NW wind, and a slight snowfall in Toronto; maybe 1.5 cm of snow on the ground. Seeing from the tracks in the snow, I was the third biker on the trail - and it's a main east-west bike path. I also had a nice spill riding over railway tracks crossing the bike path. Whatever material they put between the rails
on the path, it was slippery like crazy. If there would be normal asphalt, it would be OK. I bet you guys in Holland don't have treacherous sections like that. It's amazing how fast a biker can move through the air when gravity is on his/her side.
It's hard for me to even relate to this incredible level of bicycle infrastructure. It's a testament to the level of bicycle transportation you have in Europe.
I really appreciate the great photos and videos you include with your posts. Talk about a picture painting a thousand words. It shows what can be done when you have a community and government that support alternative transportation in general and bicycle transportation specifically.
@Michael Blue
Watch this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9PTZDuhTFw&feature=related
and this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqo4hwnJt6Y&feature=fvw
Both from last winter. The worst winter we had since twenty years or so.
It's not always perfect here, of course.
However, such conditions as in those videos are rare. Last year was pretty bad. Here it was below -10 C for several weeks. At those temperatures, salt doesn't really work any more. At first it was quite miraculous, but after a few weeks it looked a bit less good.
Yesterday, Judy fell from her bike. There had been a slight thaw and a re-freeze, and somehow someone had decided that it wasn't necessary to grit properly.
@Anonymous
Ouch, they were some nasty black ice patches.
BTW, how do you keep you feet warm when biking at - 10?
Speaking for myself: socks and/or Mango. I know one person who uses electric foot warmers.
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