Guarded cycle parking

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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LindaB
Posts: 70
Joined: 17 Jun 2013, 8:41pm

Guarded cycle parking

Post by LindaB »

Hi -
Has anyone used the supervised cycle parking lots (“fietsenstalling”) in the Netherlands? I’m concerned about theft in some of the cities we’ll want to visit during our cycling days. I’ve located these lots in The Hague and in Haarlem right near the sites we’ll want to stop and visit, but I’m interested in hearing some first-hand reports!

We’ll be riding from Paris to Amsterdam in September 2016. All our reserved hotels/B&B’s have secure overnight bike storage but I’m concerned about daytime security. Over the last 20 years we haven’t worried too much about this, but I’m reading more and more warnings about bike security.

Any comments about safe cycle parking in Belgium or France also greatly appreciated.

I’ve found it easy to locate the cycle parking in the Netherlands while route planning in rwgps.com: using the OSM cycle map choice and zooming in as far as possible shows a “C” symbol in a blue square and a number indicating how many bikes can be accommodated at the location of each parking lot.

Thanks, LindaB
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MrsHJ
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Joined: 19 Aug 2010, 1:03pm
Location: Dartmouth, Devon.

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by MrsHJ »

I'm interested in this too. There are Dutch posters on here so I'm sure you'll get an answer.

From what I've read the bikes are OK in the secure parking but you shouldn't leave luggage on them. As many of them are in railway stations there may be a left luggage facility too. Some of the crazy guy on a bike blogs mention using them. I think that for some of the automated ones there may be a standard card ou need? I can't remember if it was for the parking or trains or both.
bainbridge
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Joined: 26 Oct 2014, 7:19pm

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by bainbridge »

I used the guarded bike parking in the Hague two weeks ago. The first one was next to the Ibis hotel in the centre. It's the basement of a multistorey carpark and there is only one way in and out, down the ramp underground. There is a manned kiosk at the entrance and the man staples a ticket to the handlebars and hands you the counterpart, adding to keep it safe because without it you won't get your bike back.

You then go down to the parking area which consists of rows of bike racks, I noted there is good cctv coverage over all the racks. There is also a bike repair shop but it was closed that day (easter Monday).

It was 30% occupied and of the bikes there 95% were local Dutch runarounds. Hardly any were locked up. There were a couple of touring bikes, panniers and lights etc removed and these were secured with thin wire whips and padlocks.

The first 24 hours are free but the second day is chargeable. I had to pay a whopping 50 cents. The guy there was really friendly and let me pick his brains about the subject. My bike was secured with a d lock and wire whip but this was overkill. As well as removing the panniers I took the lights and speedo too.

The other one I used in the Hague was underneath Central rail station. The ticket system was also used but it's chargeable at 1.80 euro per day, even just an hour will incur a days charge. This one is much busier with people everywhere, I chanced leaving my panniers on the bike for an hour while I made enquiries upstairs in the station and grabbed a coffee, but took my rack pack with me containing passport etc. Again cctv coverage was good but a brazen thief could have taken all but the bike.

In Belgium there wasn't any secure parking but the hotels let me use their store rooms on each occasion.
eileithyia
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Joined: 31 Jan 2007, 6:46pm
Location: Horwich Which is Lancs :-)

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by eileithyia »

I do not recall it's location but we used a secure lock up facility when we stayed just outside Amsterdam. We used a hotel close to a train station, on the plaza between hotel and station was a bike shop with underground bike parking, most dutch rolled up, parked their bikes and used the train into the centre. with no bike facility at the hotel, we used it for storage for the weekend we were there (the tandem did get charged at moped rates as am not sure they knew how to classify it). Similar system; get a ticket and can only retrieve a bike with corresponding ticket.
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
LindaB
Posts: 70
Joined: 17 Jun 2013, 8:41pm

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by LindaB »

Original poster here... Thanks for the information. The parking I'm looking at in the The Hague is very near the Binnenhof, and is marked as having 100 spaces (not near the Ibis). We hope to visit the Mauritshuis (museum) while our bikes are parked. Having to take panniers, etc with us wouldn't make this very practical. Is it actually forbidden to leave items on the cycles? (We would obviously take our "valuables"; though everything is pretty valuable when on a tour!)
Psamathe
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Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by Psamathe »

bainbridge wrote:...There is a manned kiosk at the entrance and the man staples a ticket to the handlebars and hands you the counterpart, adding to keep it safe because without it you won't get your bike back.....

What is to stop somebody entering with a rubbish beaten up worthless bike, removing it's ticket and putting it onto your expensive bike and they using their counterpart matching the ticket they have stapled onto your bike ... (given it's only stapled).

I only wonder as I believe some UK carparks now have numberplate recognition and they write the numberplate (or reference) to the mag stripe on your ticket to on leaving the match the car numberplate to the ticket. And whilst people could swap number plates, it should be pretty easy for such systems to record car colour, and a few other parameters to avoid the number plate swapping possibility.

Ian
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Heltor Chasca
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Joined: 30 Aug 2014, 8:18pm
Location: Near Bath & The Mendips in Somerset

Guarded cycle parking

Post by Heltor Chasca »

Psamathe wrote:
bainbridge wrote:...There is a manned kiosk at the entrance and the man staples a ticket to the handlebars and hands you the counterpart, adding to keep it safe because without it you won't get your bike back.....

What is to stop somebody entering with a rubbish beaten up worthless bike, removing it's ticket and putting it onto your expensive bike and they using their counterpart matching the ticket they have stapled onto your bike ... (given it's only stapled).

I only wonder as I believe some UK carparks now have numberplate recognition and they write the numberplate (or reference) to the mag stripe on your ticket to on leaving the match the car numberplate to the ticket. And whilst people could swap number plates, it should be pretty easy for such systems to record car colour, and a few other parameters to avoid the number plate swapping possibility.

Ian


Nothing. Save for the cultural differences.

Given that bike theft is quite high in the NL, perhaps your plans have been, and are in place amongst the tea leaves already.

How's business Ian [emoji6]
bainbridge
Posts: 225
Joined: 26 Oct 2014, 7:19pm

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by bainbridge »

Psamathe wrote:
bainbridge wrote:...There is a manned kiosk at the entrance and the man staples a ticket to the handlebars and hands you the counterpart, adding to keep it safe because without it you won't get your bike back.....

What is to stop somebody entering with a rubbish beaten up worthless bike, removing it's ticket and putting it onto your expensive bike and they using their counterpart matching the ticket they have stapled onto your bike ... (given it's only stapled).

Ian


A sold secure gold d lock and wire whip :-)
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CaptainSlow
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Joined: 13 Jan 2015, 12:45pm
Location: Wudeton, Gloucestershire

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by CaptainSlow »

We used the one in the centre of Haarlem a couple of weeks ago - no issues at all. We were so confident in the security there that we ended up just locking most of the panniers to the bikes via the handles & a long wire "whip" (and bikes with a Kryptonite D lock to be fair!)

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We also used the one to the left of the Amsterdam train station (as you look at it). A bit more problematic as it was pretty full when we arrived on a Saturday evening, and our bikes don't have stands so wall-leaning space was at a premium. When we arrived to pick them up the next day, they were behind a sea of returned hire-bikes!
Touring Rig: .....2013 Surly Long Haul Trucker 700c
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bohrsatom
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Joined: 20 May 2013, 4:36pm

Re: Guarded cycle parking

Post by bohrsatom »

Used a fietsenstalling in the centre of Utrecht for a couple of days on a previous tour. Our hotel had no space for bike parking and they sent us there instead. Must admit I was a bit worried to start with but a local allayed my concerns as you can only remove a bike with the right ticket. With a D-lock through both frames as well as a large cable the bikes felt safe and when we returned they were indeed just where we left them.

We also used fietsenstalling for daytime/evening parking in Leiden, Delft, Dordrecht and Ghent (Belgium). Locked the bikes as usual and in Dordrecht left our panniers in the lockers provided.

Coming from the UK it did seem a bit weird as I wouldn't say in every case the security was fantastic. However if there was no guard then CCTV acted as a deterrent and with so many bikes locked on the street I would expect most criminals to choose an easier target.
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