Coping with thousands of bicycles at the railway station. Difficult? Yes, finding space for them all is a problem, but Groningen has proved that it can be done. The completion, organisation and use of the new Stadsbalkon are a model for the Netherlands.
Double use of land was necessary in order to accommodate all the functions in the restricted area surrounding the station. Directly in front of the station building, close to the platform entrances, a special square was designed above underground parking facilities for 4150 bicycles: the Stadsbalkon. Cost: around10 million Euros. Most of the work was completed in autumn 2006; the final part of the parking facility was opened in January 2007. And it was immediately full to capacity at peak moments! The last counts showed over 6,000 bicycles parked at the station with the various groups of racks (800 places) and the ‘complete’ Stadsbalkon facility (4150) together are no longer full to capacity. The perfect quality of unguarded parking facilities now seems to have a noticeable effect on the guarded parking facility.