Amsterdam Central’s underwater bicycle park has room for 7,000 bikes

When a train is about to leave, arriving at the station by bicycle is not the end of the rush. You still have to find a space and lock the bike before heading to the platform. The bicycle park beneath Open Havenfront, in front of Amsterdam Central Station, puts this part of the journey below the water. The city’s Amsterdam Bike City platform describes capacity for 7,000 bicycles.

This was not the first place to park a bike at Central Station. A ferry on the IJ behind the station once served as bicycle parking. City material explains that it made way for construction of the IJboulevard facility. Open Havenfront in front of the station and IJboulevard behind it are separate facilities, serving people approaching from different directions.

“Underwater” may suggest a tunnel through water, but users enter an underground space sealed off from it. Capacity figures also depend on which facility is being described. Open Havenfront’s 7,000 spaces should not be confused with those on the IJ side. The distinction between the front and back of the station matters when reading a map, too.

Capacity alone does not explain the experience of changing from bicycle to train. The entrance after dismounting, the route back to a parked bike, and the point where users emerge near the station must all work together. Finding a space resembles parking a car, but bicycles can gather in much larger numbers, making entrances and walking routes particularly important.

From above, it is hard to judge how many bicycles are below the water. Rather than finding land for another building, the project uses the space beneath an existing part of the station forecourt. Consider the cycle route to the station alongside the walking route to the platform, and the reason for going underground becomes clearer.

For some travelers, Central Station is the destination; for those changing from bike to train, it is a stop along the way. Bicycle parking marks the start of the next part of their journey. One bike occupies little space, but thousands arriving for the same purpose change how the forecourt is used. Here, the routes of people passing the waterfront and people leaving their bicycles run on different levels.