Stationspleinstalling, Utrecht

Stationspleinstalling, the world’s biggest bicycle parking, is the center piece of an urban redevelopment that reconnects the enlarged railway station to the historic city center of Utrecht. Underneath an elevated square, a three story bike park for 12,500 bicycles promotes and facilitates a future of sustainable mobility.

The garage is extremely easy to use, delivers fast connections to the train platforms, is safe and provides a remarkable experience. The bike-park directly connected to the largest railway station and public transport hub of the Netherlands was built to seduce more inhabitants and commuters to use public transport instead of cars. A behavioral change that reduces CO2 emissions in daily commutes up to 95%.

The integrated, comfortable bicycle parking is the answer to a major problem in the inner cities of our urban communities worldwide: pollution and logistic congestion. It transformed the public transport hub to favours cyclists and pedestrians and to make car use less attractive and even unnecessary. The full service bike-parking (with repair service and bicycle rental) is convenient, safe and very appealing. Using the latest technology the parking guarantees the quickest possible access to trains (5 min from your parking spot) and to the historic city centre and is celebrated by 12.500 cyclists each day. The owners of the new mixed use buildings along the pedestrian boulevard profit from the regained lively, free vibe that manifests itself under the iconic canopy and attracts lots of customers. The logistics of the supply traffic is arranged through a system of underground tunnels and storage spaces. The development made the area more attractive for all stakeholders and could be an example for various cities.

The spatial reorganization that almost entirely removes motorized traffic from the station area also allowed for new mixed use urban developments that benefit from this central location with an excellent accessibility without the need for cars. The development fits perfectly in the longstanding Dutch tradition of bicycle usage: At the opening the State Secretary for Public Transport and the Environment Stientje van Veldhoven nominated cycling for Unesco recognition as intangible heritage of the Netherlands. At the same time the bike park has become a symbol of how the Dutch look at future sustainable mobility.