Central Station Bicycle Parking

Inside the structure. huhbakker/cc by 2.0

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The Netherlands is the largest user of bicycles in the world, with a staggering 25 million bikes currently in the country—about 1.5 times more bikes than people. A lot of people have more than one bike, and public transport hubs have special places to store all these two-wheelers.

The bike garage near the central station in Utrecht is the world’s largest such place. The underground parking garage is a staggering three stories and was made entirely to house bikes. Ramps connect the different levels, and the middle level features a regular bike path for those who just want to get from one side of the station to the other. Pedestrian tunnels connect the parking directly to the platforms of the train station.

It opened in 2018, cost the city 30 million euros, and is just one out of five bike parking lots servicing the train station. In total, they offer space for just over 22,000 bikes, 12,500 of which are in the main parking—and after the morning rush hour, most of them are completely full!

Know Before You Go

The storage is open 24/7 and can be accessed for free from the central station. Park your bicycle there if you are going to take the train, or just walk through to see how many bicycles are there! The garage is free to use for the first 24 hours, and then you pay for each consecutive day. The garage is filled with various digital signs and indicators that tell users where they can find an empty spot, which, despite the size of the garage, can still be difficult during rush hour.