Officials in the Netherlands, a country with more bicycles than people, are tackling a plague of “wild parking” by confiscating illegally stationed bikes and increasing the penalties to get them back.
This year the southern city of Maastricht – beloved of international students – banned people from “orphaning” their bikes by deserting them on the street. Now it is doubling the fines it charges people who want to reclaim impounded bicycles.
To be legal, cyclists in the inner city must park at a bike rack – securing it to railings or a lamp-post is a no-no.
From January, those who have had a bicycle confiscated will need to pay €50 (£43) to release it from the pound rather than €25.
Maastricht has just over 120,000 inhabitants, around a fifth of them students, and bike parking has been an issue for years.
This year, 2,159 “illegally parked” bikes have so far been cut away, according to the council. Last year the total was 2,611. A new campaign aims to encourage responsible cycling.
“It is positive to see that ever more people are using a bike,” said the mayor of Maastricht, Wim Hillenaar.
“But on the other hand, this sometimes brings problems in public space … and this decision is because the number of incorrectly parked bicycles remains too high despite all efforts.”
In the city, there are council bike storage facilities where bikes can be kept for a maximum of 14 days and it is forbidden to park anywhere except at a bike rack in the inner city.
Like Amsterdam and Utrecht, Maastricht has been building bike garages but has found people still tend to secure their bikes to lamp-posts since parking in racks or garages does not necessarily deter thieves.
But Mark Mülders, the head of the GreenLeft local party, is concerned that the penalties could be counterproductive.
“This is indeed a hot topic,” he said. “GreenLeft wants a city where there is as little car traffic as possible … and in all honesty, I’m happy if people take the bike instead of the car.
“I would rather that they get a fine for incorrectly parking their car than their bike because everyone who cycles has made a contribution to a car-free inner city.”
