Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Bike Parking, Rentals, & Security in Heaven

          Houten is called bike heaven for many reasons. One of my favorite sites in the City is the train station where the 3,000 bicycle parking spaces are provided to keep your trusty vehicle safe, secure, and  ready for your next trip. In case, you aren't at a station that you normally visit, the OV Fiets (bike rental service run by the National Train Service or NS) is ready to assist you throughout most hours of the day. It is a fantastic system that works across City boundaries, so as a resident of Houten, I can get a bike in most of the communities across the country without having to buy a separate membership. The cost of a day rental is less than 3 Euros and it is good for all day. What a deal!

Two ways to improve the system:
1. Have a wider range of bikes (probably increases the costs, but perhaps one could pay a premium for a different bike.
2. Allow bikes to be dropped off at a different station than you rented it from. This would be great for day touring. It seems that it would be easy enough to run a train to take the bikes back at the end of the day if needed.
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1 comment:

Mark W. said...

Regarding your OV fiets comments. You can hire a different type of bike: an electric bike at the larger stations. And it is already possible to return the bike to a different station, but that costs about 10 euros extra.