Case study Bicycle parking facilities at Apeldoorn station

These measures were partly financed by the action plan ‘Bicycle parking at stations’ supported by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (I&W). Most bicycle spaces around Apeldoorn station are located to the north of the station itself. There is 1 supervised parking facility immediately beneath the NS station and 2 unsupervised parking facilities, one to the north and one to the south of the station building. Additional bicycle parking spaces were needed on the southern side of the station in particular.

To meet the demand for bicycle parking spaces around the station, a series of measures were taken. In 2017, the bicycle parking facility on the southern side was expanded by adding a further 570 spaces. The entire existing bicycle parking facility was dismantled and reassembled as a new facility with two levels. This extra level created more bicycle parking spaces. The expansion was the result of collaboration between ProRail (the manager of rail infrastructure in the Netherlands), the Municipality of Apeldoorn and the Province of Gelderland.

In addition, starting in mid-March 2018, the supervised bicycle parking facility beneath the station on the northern side was opened from 15 minutes before the first train until 15 minutes after the last train. For the first 24 hours, parking is free. The bicycle parking facility is staffed throughout its opening hours.

The organisation responsible for implementing the policy of the Ministry of I&W, ProRail, builds bicycle parking facilities. This is done according to a fixed step-by-step plan Based on analyses and studies, ProRail decides between supervised and unsupervised bicycle parking. This depends in part on the size and complexity of the project and the decision making process (environmental permits, zoning plan changes, etc.), as a result of which the projects can take up to 8 years.

In Apeldoorn, the entire project lasted 4 years. A start was made with initial discussions in late 2013/early 2014, which resulted in the first plans one year later. The procedure for amendments to the zoning plan was started in 2016 and concluded in early 2017. The building permit was finally issued in the summer of 2017 and the bicycle parking facility was eventually built in the last six months of 2017.

Implementation

Bicycle use has many positive aspects and is important for transport from and to the station. It is therefore vital that sufficient parking spaces be provided. To come up with solutions to bicycle parking problems at stations, the Ministry of I&W drew up the action plan ‘Bicycle parking at stations’.

Once every 3 years, ProRail carries out a bicycle count at Dutch stations. Based on a forecasting model they are then able to calculate the future demand for bicycle parking spaces for each station. The reference forecast year is 2030. Based on this information, ProRail issues proposals (in long list form) to the Ministry of I&W about bicycle parking facilities at stations that need to be tackled first. The Ministry then decides how the available funds will be shared out.

The government itself has contributed 50% to the cost of this project. A condition for this was that the other 50% was made available under cofinancing. The partners in this project were the Municipality of Apeldoorn and the Province of Gelderland.

Results

ProRail does not build bicycle parking facilities based on current demand but for expected demand in 2030. In other words, taking account of long-term needs. Nonetheless, the expansion of bicycle parking space often generates positive effects in the short term, too. There often turns out to be dormant demand that only emerges once the expansion is completed. Based on that realisation, ProRail attempts to also include this latent demand in its model, as far as possible. One complicating factor is that the facility is not always only used by train passengers.

The bicycle parking facility in Apeldoorn was completed at the end of 2017. The bicycle parking capacity on the south side of the station has been doubled. It is also expected that the occupancy rate of the supervised bicycle parking facility on the north side will increase as soon as bicycle parking becomes free for the first 24 hours. It is still too early to draw serious conclusions about the effect on bicycle use at this location. Another factor in Apeldoorn is that the bicycle parking facility is located close to a university of applied sciences. The municipality has deployed additional staff to ensure that people attending the university and travelling by bicycle do not park in the ProRail bicycle parking facility, thereby ‘pinching’ available parking spaces from train passengers.

Considerations for deployment elsewhere

The measure ‘Bicycle parking facilities at public transport hubs’ is widely deployed. More information about this measure is available in the fact sheet Bicycle parking at public transport hubs. As implementing organisation, ProRail operates according to a national standard approach. Financing by the Ministry of I&W is also provided according to a fixed procedure, namely via the Administrative Consultation Multi-year Programme Infrastructure, Space and Transport (BO MIRT).