The world’s first underwater bicycle parking opens its doors in Amsterdam (video)

Central Station of Amsterdamthe central station of the capital of the Netherlands, has opened the first underwater bicycle parking of the world. It has the capacity to hold 11,000 bikes.

It is that type of project that can only go ahead in cities like Amsterdam. For several reasons.

The Netherlands is one of the places with the highest penetration of bikes of the world. In Utrecht they use it daily 50% of citizensand in Amsterdamthe 35%. There it is as common to go to work or study, as the car. In fact, few people use the car for these tasks, because they opt for the aforementioned bike, train, bus, etc.

The capital of the Netherlands is also special for its abundant Waterways, which run throughout the city. So it seems coherent that, if you have to build a parking lot in a city with little free space, you do it under the water of a canal.

The place to choose has been Central Stationthe Central Station of Amsterdam where every day 100,000 citizens arrive by bike to take the train, bus, etc. The entire station is surrounded by bike racks, which are going to be removed now that the new car park has been inaugurated.

The underwater parking for bikes in Amsterdam

The Web The Verge He has visited the car park the same day it was inaugurated, and he explains how it works. For its construction, a dam was used that cut off the water from the canal, and it was filled again after finishing the works.

To the underwater bicycle parking It is reached by going down a ramp that plunges you into the waters of the canal. You can access the car park with the transportation card associated with a bank account, which allows you to take any public transport in the city.

is also available a sticker with a chipwhich you place on the bike and you can enter and leave the parking lot without stopping.

The first 24 hours of parking are freethen it costs 1.35 euros per day. So those who go to work daily do not have to pay. It also serves as motivation not to take up space for a long time.

As we can see in the photo, the parking lot has two heights, and numerous corridors. Currently there is room for 7,000 bikes, but in less than a month a second area will open, increasing capacity to 11,000 bicycles.

From the garage, a mobile ramp leads directly inside the station, to take the train, bus, or whatever you need.

You can see the complete tour of the car park uploaded by the Amsterdam City Hallin the opening video of the news.

The underwater parking for bicycles It has cost 4 years of work and about 60 million euros to build it. A construction that is only profitable in a few cities in the world. Amsterdam is one of them.